As I said in my last newsletter, disability inclusion has always been a litmus test for social progress. Not the kind written into strategies, action plans, or public statements — but the type felt by people living inside systems every day.
When Natalie Wade delivered her inaugural Disability Leadership Oration in 2023 and spoke about Australia being “three generations away” from disability equality, it wasn’t defeatist. It wasn’t dramatic. It was honest.
And honesty is what this work desperately needs.
As I’ve mentioned previously, the workplace is a microcosm of society. Because when you look closely — really closely — at how organisations operate, who gets listened to, how decisions are made, and what behaviours are tolerated, the reality becomes clear:
A lack of knowledge does not hold us back. We are held back by systems that still default to exclusion.
Plans aren’t the problem. Culture is.
And culture, unlike a strategy, can’t be fast-tracked by ambition alone.
Why “Three Generations” Matters
Three generations is about cultural memory — the slow, often invisible work of shifting what people expect from society and from each other.
It takes generations for:
• norms to lose their grip
• assumptions to stop passing as truth
• representation to become ordinary
• access to be designed in, not retrofitted
• disabled people to be recognised as leaders, not afterthoughts.
When I sit in on committee meetings, workshops, or focus groups across local government, higher education, corporates, community development and NFPs, I see the same pattern:
People are trying. But they are trying within systems never built with disabled people in mind.
And culture protects those systems more fiercely than any policy ever could.
Plans Don’t Move Faster Than Culture — They Move When Culture Allows It
There’s a common assumption that organisations can “implement” inclusion if they just have the right plan.
But here’s the truth:
Plans only move at the speed the culture is willing to carry them.
A Disability Inclusion Action Plan doesn’t transform a workplace. A committee review doesn’t shift power. A policy doesn’t guarantee psychological safety. A workshop doesn’t automatically create behaviour change.
These things work only when the culture is primed to recognise and sustain them.
Culture is the foundation. Plans are the tools. And tools can only function on a stable, willing foundation.
When culture resists, plans sit still. When culture is neutral, plans stall. When culture is ready, plans finally move.
Where We’re Actually Stuck (And Why It Isn’t About Effort)
Across 2025, I’ve supported organisations that genuinely want to make progress. But wanting progress and having the cultural conditions for progress are two very different things.
Here’s what I’ve observed:
1. Inclusion is still seen as conditional
Too often, inclusion is activated only when someone discloses, asks, pushes, or struggles first. This places the burden on individuals — and reinforces the idea that disability is an exception, not part of the organisational fabric.
2. Risk, not possibility, drives decision-making
Even well-intentioned leaders are trapped in risk-based thinking: “What if we get it wrong?” “What if we can’t accommodate everyone?” “What if we create more work?”
Risk thinking will always favour the status quo.
3. Resistance is often tolerated or quietly rewarded
If someone resists change and experiences no accountability, the whole system absorbs that resistance. Culture follows what’s reinforced — not what’s written.
4. Representation is still an afterthought
Committees, leadership teams, and project groups often only include disabled people when someone advocates hard for it. Representation should not be something to negotiate.
5. Organisations underestimate the emotional labour of inclusion
Disabled staff and marginalised staff are still patching gaps, providing informal advice, flagging risks, or being the “go-to person” for every question. It’s invisible work — but fundamental to progress.
Why Generational Thinking Changes Everything
When we understand inclusion as generational work, we stop expecting quick wins and start building cultural longevity.
Shifting the work from “fix this now” to “embed this so deeply it endures” changes the questions we ask.
Instead of: “How fast can we implement the plan?” we ask: “What cultural conditions need to exist for this plan to work at all?”
Instead of: “Why aren’t people disclosing?” we ask: “What would it take for disclosure to feel safe, normal, and unremarkable?”
Instead of: “How do we get buy-in?” we ask: “What parts of our culture make inclusion optional?”
Instead of: “How do we measure progress?” we ask: “What behaviours and decisions tell us the culture is shifting?”
This is the difference between short-term activity and long-term change.
Where We Go From Here: Shifting Culture So Plans Can Move
Here are the cultural shifts that will matter most in the next 5–10 years:
1. Design out barriers before someone hits them
Inclusion can’t rely on individual disclosure. Proactive design is the only sustainable approach.
2. Embed lived experience into decision-making
Not as a token, a checkbox, or an advisory panel that’s ignored — but as leadership, influence, expertise, and co-ownership of direction.
3. Resource the work properly
Good intentions don’t remove barriers. Time, skills, funding, and accountability do.
4. Build cultures that reward inclusion, not resistance
If the loudest voice in the room sets the tone, nothing changes. Reward the behaviours you want repeated.
5. Treat inclusion as cultural infrastructure
Not a project. Not an event. Not a theme day. Not a communications exercise. Infrastructure.
As We Close the Year… What Future Are We Building Toward?
When Natalie Wade said we are three generations away, she wasn’t setting a deadline. She was naming the scale of the work.
Generational work requires: • patience without passivity • persistence without burnout • discomfort without defensiveness • courage without certainty.
And most of all, it requires culture.
Because the truth is: Everything moves at the speed of culture. Plans. Behaviours. Decisions. Representation. Belonging.
And culture moves at the speed of people who refuse to let the next generation inherit the same barriers.
So, as 2025 ends, and organisations wind down, plan, or reflect on their year, I want to leave you with this:
Your actions today shape someone else’s tomorrow. And someone else’s tomorrow shapes the generation after them.
This work is slow, but it’s powerful. It’s frustrating, but it’s necessary. It’s long-term, but it’s worth it.
Here’s to the next generation — and the one after that — inheriting workplaces and communities that finally live and reflect the inclusion we’ve been talking about for decades.
