Disability and Inclusion Action Plan
Hunter Writers’ Centre has adopted a Disability and Inclusion Action Plan to help make our programs more accessible and inclusive for everyone, including people with disability.
The Disability and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) outlines the steps we will take from 2024 to 2027 to improve accessibility across our programs and spaces.
Hunter Writers’ Centre serves the stories and storytellers of the Hunter region, and we want everyone to be able to join our programs. The DIAP helps us remove barriers to participation for people with disability and strengthens our creative community.
Five Pillars
Over a three-year period, we will work on the following five pillars
1. Accessible Spaces
Make sure all Hunter Writers’ Centre places, events, and online spaces are easy to access for everyone.
2. Inclusive Programs
Create programs that include everyone and show our community’s diversity.
3. Clear Communication
Make sure our communication is easy for everyone to understand.
4. Inclusive Staff and Volunteers
Build an inclusive team and employ people with disability.
5. Ongoing Improvement
Review and improve our DIAP each year based on community feedback.
The DIAP is informed by the Disability and Inclusion Action Group (DIAG), which includes four community members with lived experience of disability. The DIAG meets three times a year to review our practices and provide guidance.
Disability and Inclusion Action Group
Samantha Connor
I’m a disabled woman, a disability advocate and activist. I believe that every human has equal worth and potential and should have the same opportunities.
I fight to make sure disabled people have access to justice and have their rights upheld. In my professional life, I lecture in human rights and activism, undertake consultancy work using co-design and develop disability policy. I hold subject matter expertise in safeguarding and the prevention of violence, neglect and abuse.
I’m the former President of People with Disability Australia and am a mouthy activist. Aside from the mouthiness, I have spent thirty years doing very real policy work and achieving outcomes for disabled people across Australia. Lots of media including Q&A, the Drum as a regular panelist, news, yada.
Bryson Douglas
Bryson (he/him) is a proud bi, disabled, neurodivergent trans man.
The first time he wrote purely for the sake of it was at 14. Since then, he has mainly written poems, but has also written articles, short stories, scripts, and a few stand-up sets. His work has appeared in multiple editions of Newcastle’s Sappho Anthology, in NOTHING TO HIDE : Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia, and Querelle Magazine.
He is also an experienced and confident speaker, having appeared on podcasts (ABC’s Innies and Outies), radio (ABC Newcastle), and TV (SBS Insight). He has also participated in educational panels, and delivered talks to various groups about the trans, queer, and disability experience.
He is deeply passionate about bringing understanding to the intersection of queerness and disability, and the similarities and differences within those.
On weekends, Bryson enjoys vegging out and spending time with his housemate and very good friend, Az, especially if it involves beer or coffee. A life goal of his is to find Pad Thai as good as some he had in Canberra once. He is honoured to have the chance to use his experiences in such a fantastic way.
Maxine A Jacobi
Maxine Jacobi has loved writing fiction since childhood, when she lived a jolted family life around city, country, and coast. She has made Awabakal land in Lake Macquarie her home. She has recorded stories for ABC radio, read at Newcastle Writers Festival, and was twice a finalist in Hunter writing competitions. Since joining Hunter Writers Centre in 2015 she now writes both prose and poetry and was part of a collaborative collection published in 2023 ‘Cycles in Light,’ Ginnanderra Press.
Her observation for those oppressed and discriminated has always been a part of her life and so has her drive as she worked and volunteered for those in need.
When faced with her own disabling illness and the challenges it brought, it also enforced her passion and effort to support others in their obstacles and pursuits.
Kerri Shying
Kerri is a Wiradjuri/Chinese/Australian poet who is a convenor of the disability writing collective WU, and has published four collections of her work. She lives in Mayfield with her tiny pets, uses a wheelchair and walker, and spends time as an advisor on literary boards and concerns.