Family Advocacy

21/10/2026

🏫 Leading Inclusive School Reform with Dr Loren Swancutt

What does it take to create schools where every student is welcomed, included and supported to learn alongside their peers?

Join us for a FREE webinar with Dr Loren Swancutt, exploring how educators and school leaders can create meaningful, lasting change through whole-school inclusive education reform.

Together, we'll explore practical ways to:

✅ Build a shared vision for inclusive education
✅ Strengthen inclusive teaching practices and school culture
✅ Identify barriers and opportunities for improvement
✅ Turn inclusive education goals into meaningful action

💛 We encourage both families and educators to attend, building a shared understanding to strengthen conversations and work together towards more inclusive schools.

📅 Wednesday 4 November 2026

🕔 5pm – 7pm AEDT

💻 Online via Zoom | FREE

📚 Teachers: This webinar covers two hours of professional development across the teaching standards. A certificate of completion is available upon request.

🔗 Register here: https://bit.ly/LeadingInclusiveSchoolReformWebinar

Inclusive education is about every student belonging, participating and learning together.

15/10/2026

It was wonderful to have Gavy Culey, Year 8 student at Kiama High School and his mum Carol, one of our parent leaders, come all the way from the South Coast to attend our Parliamentary Forum on Tuesday.

Afterwards, Gavy attended question time and was welcomed by name by the Speaker.

Read more about Gavy's visit to parliament in the post below

13/10/2026

💙 From Recommendations to Reality: Building Belonging Together! What a powerful day at NSW Parliament House! 🏛️

A heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who joined us in person and online for Family Advocacy's Parliamentary Forum, From Recommendations to Reality: Inclusive Education and Employment.

Today, we came together to reflect on 20 years since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, three years since the Disability Royal Commission and two years since the NSW Parliamentary Education Inquiry.

The message was clear: We have the evidence. We have the recommendations. Now we need action.

👏 Thank you to Daniel McDonald (Deadly Hand Talk) for opening our forum with a meaningful and thought-provoking Welcome to Country.

🎤 A special thank you to our speakers:

Skye Kakoschke-Moore, CEO of Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA), highlighted the urgent need for a funded and accountable NSW Inclusive Education Roadmap.

"Inclusive education is not simply placing a student with disability in a mainstream classroom. It is about changing the system so that every student can genuinely participate, learn and belong."

Professor Erin Wilson, Director of the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne, shared compelling evidence about the importance of early work experience, inclusive employment and meaningful pathways from school into community life.

"We know exactly what to do."

We were also pleased to welcome Michael Regan MP and Abigail Boyd MLC, and thank NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car and Shadow Minister for Education Mark Speakman for contributing video messages to today's forum.

💬 One of the strongest messages of the day was the need for an independent, accessible and effective education complaints system, so families have somewhere fair to turn when things go wrong.

As we look towards the 2027 NSW election, Family Advocacy is calling for three important reforms through our Building Belonging Together campaign:

💙 **BELONG** – A NSW Inclusive Education Roadmap.

🗣️ **BE HEARD** – An independent statutory complaints and oversight mechanism for education.

🌱 **CONTRIBUTE** – A NSW Inclusive Employment Pathways Strategy.

Real change requires families, schools, communities, employers and government working together.

To the families, people with disability, advocates, parliamentarians, speakers, supporters and everyone who helped make today possible, thank you for being part of this important conversation.

The time for recommendations alone has passed. It's time to turn them into reality.

Together, let's keep building a NSW where people with disability can belong, be heard and contribute. 💙

13/10/2026

💼 **LIVE from NSW Parliament House!**

We're now hearing from Professor Erin Wilson Director of the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne, who is sharing compelling evidence about employment opportunities for people with disability and why we urgently need better pathways from school into meaningful employment.

Some powerful statistics from Erin's presentation:

🔹 Approximately 130,000 people with intellectual disability are in Australia's labour market.

🔹 In 2024–25, just 930 people with intellectual disability achieved a 52-week employment outcome through Disability Employment Services (DES).

🔹 An estimated 14,000–16,000 people are employed in supported employment enterprises through NDIS-funded arrangements.

"Work experience and paid employment is the single biggest predictor of later employment." – Professor Erin Wilson

Erin is highlighting the importance of inclusive education, career planning, early work experience and strong community connections in creating better employment outcomes for young people with disability.

And her message is clear:

💬 "We cannot claim we do not know what to do."

The evidence already exists. We know what works. What's needed now is meaningful action to ensure young people with disability have the same opportunities to explore their interests, build skills and pursue employment as their peers.

We have the evidence. Now we need action.

This is why Family Advocacy is calling for a NSW Inclusive Employment Pathways Strategy in the lead up to the election.

13/10/2026

HAPPENING NOW: Leanne Varga, Family Advocacy's Systemic Advocacy and Campaigns Manager, reminded us today:

"Inclusive education lays the foundation for belonging."

Leanne emphasised that children and young people with disability deserve to belong, have their voices heard and access meaningful opportunities throughout their education and beyond.

"But inclusion cannot sit on the shoulders of families alone."

Creating lasting change requires families, schools, communities, employers and government all playing their part.

12/10/2026

We're busy behind the scenes getting everything ready for today's Parliamentary Forum starting at 11am, at NSW Parliament House!

Our team is putting the finishing touches in place, and our friendly faces will be waiting at the front desk to welcome you💙

We're looking forward to bringing families, advocates and decision-makers together for important conversations about inclusive education, employment and creating opportunities for people with disability to belong, be heard and contribute.

12/10/2026

📣 Happening TODAY! Join us for Family Advocacy’s Parliamentary Forum at NSW Parliament House, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm AEDT!

Everyone is welcome, whether you’re joining in person or online. We’ve made it easy to access the event!

✅ Save the Zoom link: https://bit.ly/2026ParliamentaryForumZoomLink
✅ Or scan the QR code to join directly!

If you're in the Sydney Metro area, we’d love to see you in person, but if you can't make it, feel free to join us online. Please share this with your friends, family or anyone who’d benefit from being part of this important discussion.

This forum will explore what needs to change to create stronger pathways to belonging for people with disability, with a focus on inclusive education, employment and ensuring the voices of people with disability and their families are heard. Together, we’ll reflect on the progress made, the challenges that remain and the action needed to turn recommendations into meaningful change.

12/10/2026

ONLY ONE MORE SLEEP!
Thank you to all those who registered to attend our Parliamentary Forum Building Belonging Together From Recommendations to Reality.

JUST SOME QUICK NOTES ⬇️⬇️⬇️

ARRIVE EARLY
We recommend arriving earlier to ensure you have enough time to get through the security process before the forum begins.

ACCESSIBILITY SUPPORT
We will have AUSLAN interpreting and live captioning. The venue is accessible too, we have reserved spaces for wheelchair users, a hearing loop has been set up for the day. Parliament House has:

- accessible lifts from Reception on level 7
- a ramp and lift access from Macquarie street entrance, which is on the left hand side as soon as you pass security gate
- accessible bathroom behind reception
- fitted induction loops in the Jubilee Room for people who are hearing-impaired, deaf, deaf-blind or have a speech impairment

Note: Parliament is in a sitting week and will be busy and noisy with Bell sounds calling for members to the chambers. A quiet space is available in the Prayer Room. For more information, see Accessibility at NSW Parliament House.

MAP OF PARLIAMENT HOUSE
We are sharing the layout surrounding the Jubilee Room, you will see ramp, lifts, reception and other amenities. Click on the image to Zoom in.

HYBRID EVENT
For those who are not in Sydney or are unable to get to Parliament House, we are running it as a hybrid event. A link and QR code will be shared soon you can join us!

We look forward to seeing you today, in person or virtually!

09/10/2026

One of the kids, Building Inclusion at School workshop in Rouse Hill, Ashfield and Chatswood - starting next week!

Join us for this free workshop to learn about inclusive education, hear stories of success from a parent guest speaker and see how inclusion works in the regular classroom.

This Workshop is for families of children with disability in or approaching the school years, and will cover:

👉Inclusive education – what is it and how will I know when it’s real?
👉Adjustments – reasonable and practical classroom strategies
👉Communication, collaboration and planning – building a good school relationship
👉Meetings – skills and strategies to advocate effectively
👉Education and beyond – what do we want from our child’s schooling?
👉How the school years can lead to a meaningful life.

To register, please click on your desired session/location link.

Rouse Hill, October 14: https://bit.ly/OOTK_AshfieldOctober26
Ashfield, October 16: https://bit.ly/OOTK_AshfieldOctober26
Chatswood, October 19: https://bit.ly/OOTK_ChatswoodOctober26

Family Advocacy is an independent, impartial advocacy organisation that supports families across New South Wales to promote and defend the rights and interests of people with developmental disability. The organisation is managed and staffed by parents and allies of people with disability, who recogn...