This interview is brought to you by the Enabled Disabled Project.
Meet the gardener of leaders. Christina Ryan is the CEO and Founder of the Disability Leadership Institute.
She has been an active leader in the Australian disability community for over 20 years, working at an international, national and local level to change the diversity agenda, while mentoring and supporting numerous people with disabilities to their own leadership success.
Christina pioneered the use of mainstream forums by women with disabilities at the United Nations, and now mentors and teaches effective use of the UN for rights activists globally, while working as a leadership coach for people with disabilities. She recently developed Represent, an online course in how to be an effective representative.
After 20 years working in community sector management, Christina realized that the levels of violence and marginalization experienced by people with disabilities were the direct outcome of inequality, and that to address this we need a growth in disability leadership right across the public domain.
So, Christina established the Disability Leadership Institute in 2016 as a professional hub for leaders with disabilities to build & support our disability leaders. It is the first organization of its kind globally, run by and for disability leaders. The DLI aims to grow the presence and recognition of disability leaders across all sections of our community. Christina is also a regular keynote speaker and commentator.
In 2013 Christina was acknowledged as one of 100 women of the Canberra Centenary. She was a finalist in the 2014 ACT Telstra Businesswomen’s Awards, and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Inclusion at the 2015 ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards. Christina was a 2017 Westpac Social Change Fellow.
The Disability Leadership Institute was a finalist in the 2018 Telstra Business Awards emerging and energized category.
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