Powerd NewsWrap 15th April 2026

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Vision Australia and reading radio networks. This is Powerd newsrack G'day. I'm Sam Rickard. It's the 15th of April, 2026 we're reading articles from the Powerd dot media website. And of course, joining me as normal is the writer of these articles. Emma Myers, hello. You've been rather busy this week. I understand that you've been a lady in demand. I have, I have been doing a lot of interviews on a lot of different topics. And yes, I miss actually writing about the topics. So as opposed to simply writing something, you've been out and about and getting things, which means that, yes, ironically, not a lot of stuff has been materializing online, but we did manage to get a few things from the last couple of weeks. The first one is a rather positive piece of news, in a way, we've got an Australian team heading to some dance championships. I believe that is yes. So we've got a team of dancers with the disability heading to the World Cheerleading Championships in Florida next week. Did you have much of a chance to talk to anybody regarding this? Yes, and so I spoke with the manager of the Madeleine Stewart Dance Company, which is called the Madeleine Stewart dance company because it's owned by Madeleine Stewart, the Australian model with Down syndrome. She's made a huge impact in the fashion industry, and she said that she wanted to get something back to her community. And so I spoke with the manager of the company, who also happens to meet Madeleine's mother, Roseanne about the upcoming event. Yeah, everyone seems to be all pumped and ready and looking for that. Some people that may not be pumped and ready and looking forward to things are those dealing with higher fuel prices, yes. So every single person is being impacted by the fuel shortage at the moment, but people with disabilities tend to be disproportionately affected by the crisis, because not only do some of the community rely on transport services, but they also rely on support workers showing up to provide their services to them. The price of fuel isn't really factored into a lot of the costing there, so it is quite concerning, because, I mean, okay, here, some of us can get to where we need to using public transport if we happen to be living in this inner city, but it is people who are living in the rural areas who absolutely and completely rely on people being able to drive out and assist them. So yeah, this is a quite a concerning thing, and something that a certain American president probably hadn't, hadn't factored in, or doesn't even really care about. Well, I'm thinking it's both then, indeed. So in the meantime, we cross now to Alan Atkinson with the news a select group of dancers with disability will represent Australia in a little over a week's time at the ICU Junior World and World Cheerleading Championships. It's the first time Australia has entered teams into the disability categories at the event, marking a significant moment for inclusive sport and Performing Arts in Australia. The Madeleine Stewart Dance Company MSDC, a disability led company owned by Madeline Stewart, an Australian model with Down syndrome. In partnership with the Australian cheer union, is preparing to showcase Australia's first ever teams made up entirely of athletes with disabilities at the ICU World Championships in Orlando, USA, which is scheduled to be held from the 22nd to the 24th of April.

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Powerd spoke with manager of the Madeleine Stewart Dance Company. Roseanne Stewart about the significance of this year's dances. The Australian cheer Union came to us late last year because they've got four teams of unified which means that if it's adaptive abilities, only 25% of the team have to have a disability. This year, for the first time ever, they wanted to send over some teams that were 100% people with disabilities. The teams will compete in the Special Olympics, independent hip hop and special abilities Hip Hop categories, which, as Miss Stewart explains, forms part of a larger cohort of dance styles. They do lots of different divisions, not just cheerleading, but it is dancing, and it's a big part.

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Of the competition, the ICU World Championships, brings together 1000s of athletes from nearly 30 countries. When asked what the team hopes to achieve during the competition, Ms Stewart said, the team is all about showcasing what people with disability can accomplish in the realm of sport and fitness.

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Many in the disability community are likely worrying about the rising cost of fuel and its impact on their daily lives. The cost of fuel is impacting on the disability community's access to transport services, supports that allow them to travel to medical appointments, work or community activities, according to the CEO of women with disabilities Australia, Powerd spoke with CEO of disability support organization bury Street. Uralla Terry Simmons, who believes the current fuel shortage is threatening the wellbeing and human rights of people with disabilities who faced increased isolation and loss of access to essential services when support workers cannot afford to commute. We know from everybody's experience during covid that there are mental health consequences if people are unable to get out and connect with family and friends in the community. It took quite some time for disability services to be recognized as essential services.

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CEO of women with disabilities Australia, Sophie cusworth, argues that the fuel crisis is having a disproportionate impact on people with disability and their ability to access support, we are seeing that higher fuel costs are affecting travel for disability support providers, meaning people with disability might be losing supports or being charged additional fees that they may not have funding for MS cusworth explains some providers might be scaling back or canceling regional services, and then some of The measures that are put in place, like free public transport, might be inaccessible or unavailable. This has really tangible consequences for people. The CEO of bury Street, euralia claims the government should look at a previously proven solution to address the impact of the fuel crisis is on disability services during covid organizations like ours received extra funding towards the cost of staff to maintain services. We think that's what they should be looking at now. She says other disability support providers are putting in place alternative measures. CEO of higher up Peter Willis says transport is not simply a nice to have option for people with a disability, it's how they stay connected to their community and live independently. He explains that while pricing frameworks take time to respond, Australia's largest NDIS, registered online support provider, has chosen to act absorbing the increase to support its workers and maintain continuity of care when fuel costs rise, the risk is that transport shifts become less viable for support workers to take on, which can create real gaps in support. We don't want that to happen, so we've chosen to step in and support both workers and clients. From today, support service higher up will increase its transport allowance for support workers by up to 50 cents per liter for shifts involving client transport, self funding the change, according to a press release, the aim is to help ease costs pressures on workers, while ensuring people with disability can continue to access essential transport based support. Powerd will keep you updated on this story as it unfolds,

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employees from diverse backgrounds working Australia, media organizations are being invited to take part in a nationwide research project, sharing their experiences working in the news media landscape the project, what does doing diversity do, and how can it be done differently? A study currently being undertaken by researchers from the University of Sydney, Macquarie University, Griffith University and the University of Canberra aims to study the state of Australia's news media diversity problem. Researchers are developing the first detailed Australia wide study of how news media organizations respond to criticism of the makeup of their workforce, according to Professor of critical Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University. Dr Bronwyn Carlson, we're very interested in speaking to diverse media workers so that could be from administration to management through to journalists. We found that there's a lot of harm that is caused to people who work in news media workplaces. Researchers are seeking participants who are over the age of 18 years, and who identify as First Nations, culturally and racially marginalized, workers, LGBTIQ, a plus and workers with disability.

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Associate professor in the news and media Research Center at the University of Canberra, David Nolan explains, the project is looking at the kind of activities that's taking place within the news media organizations themselves, rather than the news stories being covered. Diversity, in theory, is about the accommodation of differences in workplaces, but we see it across a whole range of policies, discourses and languages that are being used in different roles and programs. Our interest is looking at how.

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How these things are defined, and the degree to which they address how people can be better included or potentially can cause further harm. Dr Carlson said the involvement includes a one hour conversation, and participants remain anonymous. After the interview stage, the data will be collated into a report and distributed to academic publications as well as openly accessible to people in news media workplaces. I think this kind of research has a kind of flow on effect as well. Sometimes it can give some sort of nudge to these institutions to do some self reflection. Dr Carlson claims, both Dr Carlson and Mr. Nolan hope the findings will allow employers to inform a set of strategies to their practices and make news media organizations safer workplaces. We're hoping it makes a real change across the political and policy landscape, as well as drawing attention to the actual reality and experiences of people who are often under researched or not given the attention required. Thank you, Alan. And yes, there was a little bit of me once more around reading about fuel prices. Okay, this is something that we, as in the two of us, probably care a little bit more about, because, well, guess what we do for a living? Yes. And so both you and I work in the media and communications industry. I mean she mean because we love it, but that doesn't mean that there aren't still complications when to rise. We're doing our jobs, and one of the complications which can arise in these organizations and in these jobs is, I guess, the lack of awareness around diversity and around what diverse individuals deal with within their jobs, I don't know about you, but I've worked rather hard to get where I am now, and I've put up with a lot, I've got to admit, because this is my dream Job, this is what I've always wanted to do. So even though I'm actually working for a disability organization, I'm probably less likely to speak up. And if I do have a concern on something, I completely get where you're coming from, Sam, because I also work for a disability organization, and I I do struggle with raising my my concerns within the workplace, because, I guess, from my perspective, it's always is it worth it? Is it worth the stress or the added stress trying to make other people understand what's causing you psychological harm within the workplace, and this is talking about two people who work for a disability organization. So if you're working for other media organizations, like a radio station or a broadcasting network, how much harder would that be? Because, I mean, it's obviously taken people. They're not just people with a disability, but people from other diverse backgrounds, like indigenous people and such like a lot of time and effort to get where they are, and you'd be very reticent to actually speak up about it. So this particular study, I think, is going to do a lot of good, really, and it's purely anonymous, so anyone can and and I believe they should take part, because we need to see how deep this goes. Indeed, that is a wrap for this wrap, we have a few more irons in the fire, however, for next week and including an interview regarding the strange language that people use when they're dealing with people with a disability. Yeah, so infantilizing terminologies are part. Quite harmful, and you shouldn't be calling boss love for oily in any capacity. That's all right, darling. Bye, for now, bye. You can find these articles and more by going to Powerd, spelt P, O, W, E, R, D, dot media, along with the podcast of this show the Powerd news rep was brought to you by disability media Australia. This show was produced by Sam Rickard in the Adelaide studios of Vision Australia radio Sam.