MC and keynote
Greg Alchin – MC
Principal Accessibility Specialist – Service NSW
Greg Alchin is the Principal Accessibility Specialist at the Department of Customer Service NSW (DCS). As an expert and passionate advocate for people with disability, he drives agency culture and change capacity in inclusivity and design.
Greg has over 30 years’ experience working across education, community, commercial and government organisations and on initiatives that promote inclusion. Greg is authentically passionate about accessibility rights and his expertise has been sought by bodies such as the Australian Human Rights Commission, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the United Nations World Food Program.
Greg’s lived experience with a disability will ignite his passion and commitment to shine through in his role as MC for Let’s Rock NSW.
Dylan Alcott AO
Dylan Alcott AO is a world-renowned wheelchair tennis player with 23 Grand Slam titles and a Golden Slam. He is a motivational speaker, Paralympic gold medallist, Australian of the Year in 2022 and a music festival muse who has led the charge on numerous initiatives in disability and inclusivity.
Dylan started the Melbourne-based Dylan Alcott Foundation; an organisation committed to helping young people with disabilities overcome the barriers of entry to sport and education through tangible means such as scholarships, and mentoring. He was also a vital part of development of TheField.jobs, a recruitment website that matches up employers with people with disability.
As a passionate advocate for people with disability he is always seeking to correct the perceptions of the disabled community; he fosters respect and awareness in audiences he speaks before and seeks to share his story and inspire others to be the best versions of themselves.
Panellists
Caitlin Blanch
2023 Young Citizen of the Year – Tamworth Regional Council
Caitlin Blanch was recently awarded 2023 Young Citizen of the Year Award by Tamworth Regional Council for her advocacy work in youth disability and inclusivity. She is involved in a wide range of youth leadership positions including at the YMCA and as a member of the 2022 Regional Youth Taskforce. Caitlin identifies as a young person with disability (both visible and non-visible). Despite her young age, Caitlin is already making a positive impact in her community.
Jessica Irwin
Founder – DARE2BU
DARE2BU founder Jessica Irwin is a unique young woman with a different perspective on life. Born with cerebral palsy Jessica has carved a creative career path including starting her own business. DARE2BU is an exciting enterprise specialising in landscape photography, portraiture and graphic design through which Jessica has worked with some of Australia’s brightest music stars, photographers, and creatives.
Stephen McKee
Reporting Analyst, Sydney Trains
Stephen works at Transport for NSW as a Reporting Analyst for Sydney Trains. He was recruited to Transport for NSW via the then pilot ‘Tailored Talent’ Program, a program which sought to disrupt traditional recruitment practices having since become an integral part of the ongoing success of the program.
With a strong commitment to disability advocacy and social justice, Stephen is one of the Co-Chairs for the Enabled Network, an employee network that supports and connects employees living with disability and carers of people living with disability, a member of ATAC (Accessible Transport Advisory Committee) and co-founded the Neurodiversity Network, a safe space for all neurodivergent employees to share, educate, learn and connect and for neurotypical employees to learn and engage.
Finally, and most importantly, Stephen is Autistic and proudly so.
Tracey Corbin-Matchett
CEO – Bus Stop Films
Bus Stop Films CEO Tracey Corbin is a proud hard of hearing woman with a passion for film, advocacy and inclusion.
Tracey is an award-winning producer at Bus Stop Films and advocates for authentic representation in the screen industry, working with several industry services including Screen NSW, Event Cinemas and Women in Film and TV NSW (WIFT).
Her 25-year career has crossed social housing, women’s domestic violence services and the film and television industry, working with a number of industry services including Screen NSW, Event Cinemas and Women in Film and TV (WIFT) NSW.
Tracey is an Includability Ambassador on disability employment to the Australian Human Rights Commission; a Director of Deaf Sports Australia and Northcott (Disability Services). She is also a member of the Screen Producer’s Australia Respectful Workplaces Reference Group and TAFE NSW Creative Industries Taskforce. Tracey was a member of the Australian delegation of disability advocates to the United Nation’s 15th Conference of State Parties to The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Suzanne Colbert AM
Consultant, mentor, career coach
Suzanne Colbert, AM has been steeped in inclusion of people with disability – both professionally and personally for over 30 years. After 10 years spent assisting jobseekers with disability to get meaningful jobs, she founded the Australian Network on Disability (AND) to give employers the help they needed to welcome people with disability as employees and customers. While at AND Suzanne developed programs such as the Access and Inclusion Index, Disability Confident Recruiter, the Stepping into internship program and promoted the establishment of many Disability Employee Networks.
Suzanne now works as a consultant, mentor, and career coach.