Your Story Disability Legal Support will mark International Day of People with Disability (3 December 2021) with a free online event celebrating the “fearless and fabulous” disability community.
The one-hour event will feature three panellists representing different perspectives of the disability community.
Comedian Imaan Frank Hadchiti, carer and lawyer Dr Bridget Cullen and disability advocate Michael Baker will respond to the following topics:
- What I love about the disability community
- What inclusion means to me
- What is the most important recommendation I want to see in the Disability Royal Commission's final report?
This will be followed by a Q&A.
This event will include Auslan and live captions. You can join using Zoom or watch live on our Facebook page.
Date and time: Friday 3 December from 12pm to 1pm AEDT
Location: online
Register: Register on Eventbrite.
Register now
Guest speakers
Imaan Frank Hadchiti
An original, risk taking and soul searching comedian, Imaan possesses an authentically distinct point of view many fear or fail to see, and which most certainly makes him fabulous! Born in Mylor, South Australia, and currently living in Melbourne, Imaan and his sister Rima are the only two known cases of "Rima Syndrome", a genetic condition causing small stature. Imaan is 107 cm (3 ft 6 in) tall, and many of his comedy routines focus on the way people respond to his height. Starting his stand-up career at the age of 15, he won Triple J's Class Clown comedy contest in 2005. He now has more than 15 years' experience, spanning across five continents and including sell out shows at Edinburgh and Adelaide fringe festivals and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. As seen on 'You Can't Ask That' - ABC TV, 'Balls of Steel' Comedy Central, 'Wilfred' SBS TV, The Morning After' NBC, 'Battute' RAI 2.
Dr Bridget Cullen
Bridget knows what it is like to work, care, and struggle to hold it all together. Bridget was appointed to Australia's Administrative Appeals Tribunal in 2017, and is cross-assigned to the NDIS, Migration and Refugee, General, and Veterans' Appeals Divisions. Prior to this, Bridget spent 7.5 years as a Legal Member of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. She's an Adjunct Professor of Law at Griffith Law School, a Nationally Accredited Mediator, and a registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner. When Bridget is not wearing her lawyer cape, she's juggling a busy household with kids, dogs (a Jack Russell and Belgian Shepherd - what was she thinking?), ducks, a husband, and a perpetually large pile of dirty laundry. Her son Daniel (pictured with Bridget) is intellectually disabled and autistic, and non-verbal. He is simultaneously adorable and mischievous. Bridget's dark sense of humour is her super-power, and a skinny mocha her energy source. Bridget enjoys connecting with people who are also part of the disability community.
Michael Baker
Michael works for the Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS), a New South Wales advocacy service that specialises in legal issues for people with cognitive disability. Michael is currently employed as an advocate supporting people with disability and their families to tell their story to the Disability Royal Commission. He has worked alongside people with disability in the criminal justice system to understand and assert their rights for the last five years, and has a background in autism-specific support, mental health outreach and youth work. An aspiring criminologist, Michael is completing a Honours degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, researching how criminalised people with cognitive disability conceptualise justice and redress. Michael is passionate about astronomy, Bollywood, neurodiversity and queerness, and knows what it is like to feel - and be - different. He is continually motivated by the disability community to be 'fearless and fabulous' no matter what life throws his way!
Your Story Disability Legal Support
Your Story Disability Legal Support is a national service that gives free information and legal advice about taking part in the Disability Royal Commission. We are independent and separate from the Royal Commission. Our priority is to support and empower people with disability, as well as their family, friends, carers, advocates and supporters, to safely share their story and connect with support services. Our director Susannah O'Reilly will be facilitating the discussion.
For more information about the International Day of People with Disability, visit www.idpwd.com.au