Australia's new cabinet looks like Australia? 'Not without disability it doesn't.'

Laura Pettenuzzo, a writer with cerebral palsy, asks why - when 18 per cent of Australians have disability - there are so few disabled leaders

An opinion piece by Laura Pettenuzzo

Ten women, two Muslim ministers.  Prime Minister Albanese’s cabinet, we're told, "looks like Australia". On one level, I'm delighted. But there's one element missing from the diversity - as there so often is.

Disability.

Yet again I, along with  millions of other disabled people, don't see myself represented

This is not new, but it continues to be painful. I’m almost 30. I have spent nearly half my life in the workforce in one way or another. I have had a disabled manager for only two of those years, in two positions.

Those positions – and those managers – have undoubtedly had the greatest impact on my personal and professional life. With them, I felt safe enough to speak up about my access needs and when those needs were met, I was not only happier to come to work but also more productive while I was there. 

Those managers invited me to reframe my disability as an asset, to embrace my lived experience and to consider, for the first time, how that experience might be something of which I could be proud. But those managers, and the accessible environments they create, are few and far between. 

In workplaces dominated by able-bodied managers, I have felt isolated and ashamed, and pushed myself further than my body would prefer rather than admit my limitations. Writer and disability advocate El Gibbs puts it well. While it’s been “very rare” for her to have disabled managers, it “did make a difference, in terms of making sure that I could get the adjustments I needed to do my job.”

As El Gibbs asks, “How many disabled people are running disability service providers or disability employment providers?” More broadly, if the people who govern the country don’t represent us or have an understanding of what it means to be disabled, how can other individuals or organisations be expected to do so?

As I write this, I can name only one disabled politician, Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John. But 18 per cent of the population are disabled. So 18 per cent of the workforce should be too, at every level.

It’s worth noting that not all disabilities are visible, and not all people with invisible disabilities feel comfortable disclosing, nor should they have to. There may well be politicians – even members of this new cabinet – who are part of the disability community. 

My hope is that there will come a time when we do not have to speculate about the existence of disabled people in cabinet. My hope is that one day having a single disabled person in a position of political power will not be the exception. My hope is that able-bodied society will acknowledge disabled people as the formidable leaders we can be at every level. 

Disabled leaders are not merely beneficial for the creation of a more just and inclusive society, we are vital to it. 

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