Webinar for community workers: Multicultural stories matter

Multicultural people with disability may be more likely to experience mistreatment but can also face barriers to sharing their stories with the Disability Royal Commission. 

Community workers have a critical role to play in addressing these barriers, and other challenges experienced by people with disability from multicultural backgrounds.   

On Friday 25 March, join Your Story Disability Legal Support (Your Story) and the National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) for a conversation about multiculturalism, disability and the Disability Royal Commission. 

Held during Harmony Week, this webinar is aimed at workers supporting multicultural communities and will feature a Q&A between NEDA president and person with disability, Margherita Coppolino, and Your Story senior lawyer Sifa Mtango.

Margherita and Sifa will explore questions such as: 

  • What do Harmony Week and International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination have to do with the Disability Royal Commission?
  • What are the unique challenges faced by people with disability from multicultural backgrounds? What insights can they bring to the Disability Royal Commission?
  • What barriers do these communities face when engaging with the Royal Commission? What role do community workers have to play in addressing these barriers, and other challenges? 
  • How can Your Story support me or my client to safely share stories with the Disability Royal Commission?

This free online event will include Auslan interpreters and live captions. You can join using Zoom or Facebook. 

Please visit the Eventbrite page to register

Date and time: Friday 25 March from 12—12:45pm AEDT
Location: You can join using Zoom or Facebook
Cost: Free
Register: Please visit the Eventbrite page to register

Meet the speakers

Margherita Coppolino

Margherita Coppolino is a first generation Australian, born to a Sicilian mother who migrated to Australia in 1959. She was born with a short statured condition and is a proud feminist and lesbian.

Margherita is an influential disability and inclusion consultant who specialises in inclusion and intersectionality. Based in Melbourne, Victoria, she is a tertiary-qualified and industry accredited trainer, mediator, auditor and company director.

During her consultancy career, Margherita has developed specialist skills in project management, mediation, facilitation, recruitment, case management, auditing and keynote speaking. Since 2013, she has held several chair and company director positions at not-for-profit organisations.

Margherita is the president of the National Ethnic Disability Alliance and the Victorian representative on the Your Story Advisory Group, where she brings experience and advice in relation to LGBTIQA+ communities. 

Margherita believes and lives by the business philosophy that “inclusion is the key”. Through her work with government, commercial businesses and social justice organisations, Margherita aims to empower people to take action to improve quality of life both for themselves and others. 

Sifa Mtango

Sifa Mtango was born in Tanzania and has lived on four continents, picking up a few languages along the way. She moved to Perth to study Law in 2003, then after graduating, relocated to Sydney, which she now proudly calls home.

Sifa has worked in the public sector since 2015, including at the Disability Royal Commission before joining Legal Aid NSW and Your Story Disability Legal Support in 2020.

Sifa is passionate about access to justice for disadvantaged and marginalised groups in our society. She values the connection with community groups and volunteers in her community, including working with young African-Australian women to ensure that their lived experiences are recognised and represented in key national conversations.

About Harmony Week

Harmony Week is a celebration of Australia’s cultural diversity held each year in March. 

It coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is observed annually on 21 March to commemorate the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 in South Africa.

For more information about Harmony Week, visit the website.