ANU Disability Research Network Showcase 2025

Join us at the ANU Disability Research Network’s 2025 showcase event - Disability Research in Conversation: Celebrating creativity, community, and impact in disability research.

When: 9:45am – 3:00pm, Monday, 27 October 2025

Where: Acton Theatre, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU

Keynote

Award-winning, multi-disciplinary Artist, Writer, Director and advocate for Deaf and Disabled communities, Sofya Gollan will open the event. A highly respected person in the Australian film industry, Sofya will present on her creative practice-based doctoral research: ‘Silencing Deaf Stories: Hearing Portrayals of Deafness and the use of Sign Language on Contemporary Screens’.

Why attend?

This is a unique opportunity to engage with vibrant and interdisciplinary disability research at ANU. Whether you're a researcher, student, professional or community member, this event offers a valuable opportunity for networking, connection and insight.

Accessibility

We are committed to making this event inclusive. Sign language interpretation will be available. The venue is wheelchair accessible with accessible parking nearby. In person attendees will have access to a dedicated quiet space with colouring books and pencils and are welcome to bring or suggest anything else for their comfort. More information, including maps, will be sent out closer to the event day. Please inform us of any specific dietary and access needs via the registration form.

Registration Essential

You can register to attend online or in-person. In-person attendees can register for the morning keynote address only (includes morning tea afterwards) or for the full-day program. Catering (vegetarian and vegan) will be provided.

Draft Program

A draft program is outlined below, for your reference. Please note this might be subject to change. We will send out a final program to registered guests closer to the event.

9:45am – 10am

• Arrival and Registration

10am – 11am

• Welcome
• Keynote by Sofya Gollan

11am – 11:30am

• Morning Tea (catering provided)

11:30am – 12:45pm

Research Presentation

• Simone Bartram, Talon Cass-Dunbar, Laura Davy, Meg Kawada & Molly Saunders: How Do Young People with Disability and Young Carers Experience Being Heard? Findings from a National Survey

Lightning Talks

• Sophie Yates: Measuring the Hidden Costs of Disability in Australia
• Yvonne Simons: Are We Just Another ‘Untapped Resource’? Discourse on Neurodiversity in Australian News Media
• Sam Martin: Deaf ‘Voice’ Beyond Deafhood: Identity, Resistance and Belonging
• Molly Saunders: Perspectives of Women with Disability on a Good Life: Opportunities and Constraints Within the NDIS
• Rhys Fenwick: The Pixel Whisperer – Assistive Technology Development

12:45pm – 1:30pm

• Lunch (catering provided)

1:30pm – 3pm

Research Presentations

• Stefanie Puszka & Suzanne Bain-Donohue: Assemblages of Care: the NDIS in Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities
• Hilda Agyekum: Who Shapes the Methodology? A Reflexive Account of Cross-Cultural Interpretive Research in Disability Policy Implementation
• Griffin Wright: Theorising Away from Disability: De-centring and Disavowment Processes in Ideal Theory
• Lorana Bartels & Sally Eales: Creating Inclusive Courts to Support People with Disability

3pm - 3:15pm

• Closing remarks

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Crawford School of Public Policy, 132 Lennox Crossing, Canberra, Australia

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