Powerd NewsWrap 4th February 2026

Vision Australia ID  0:00  
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Speaker 1  0:22  
on the Vision Australia and reading radio networks. This is the Powerd news, rap, G'day.

Sam Rickard  0:27  
I'm Sam Rickard. It's the fourth of February, 2026 we're reading articles from the Powerd dot media website, and joining me, as per usual, is the amazing Emma Myers and you've been really, really busy. I've seen there's a lot of articles up there on the website.

Speaker 2  0:43  
There is Sam. I was overloaded with stories last week, and have things to do it again this week.

Sam Rickard  0:52  
We've got sort of some old business, as it were, which is Australia Day. A number of luminaries in the disability community got Australia Day gongs, yes,

Speaker 2  1:02  
then, including my friend and colleague, Eliza hull, who was awarded for her work in disability advocacy and the art sector,

Sam Rickard  1:14  
it's quite the honor, really. I mean, we don't have nighthoods or anything like that anymore, so this is kind of the closest we get. And I mean, I've known a few people who have received the honor in the past, and they're really, really proud of them.

Speaker 2  1:25  
I was quite interested to find out exactly how one gets nominated for a medal of Australia or Order of Australia Award in the first place. And Eliza was actually telling you that they're so secretive about not letting the recipients know who nominated them, which I think is quite, quite interesting.

Sam Rickard  1:51  
Does anything else you sort of uncovered on your research on this one? Yeah. Look, a

Speaker 2  1:55  
lot of these recipients are pillars of our community, but not many of them. I guess, working with a lot of disability advocates myself, I was kind of shocked to realize that I didn't know many of these names, and when I looked them up, there's not much about them online. So that means that they're just everyday people who are doing remarkable work, and I'm just so happy that they've been recognized for their passion and commitment to elevating disability rights.

Sam Rickard  2:35  
It's what you'd call the quiet achievers, really, isn't it? Anyway, we have a packed schedule ahead of us, so we will cross to Beth MacAllan and Mark Kelly sadikas with the news. See you on the other side.

Speaker 1  2:48  
Advocates within the disability sector have been honored as part of the Australia Day celebrations across the country with architects, sports people and health experts, among those recognized for their contribution to their fields. 10 remarkable Australians have received awards across three categories under the Order of Australia Awards, which held annually on the 26th of January. This year's awards acknowledge the impact of the recipient's passion and advocacy for the rights of people living with disability. The Order of Australia recognizes Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement. There are four levels of award, the Companion of the Order of Australia, AC, Officer of the Order of Australia, ao, Member of the Order of Australia, AM, and medal of the Order of Australia. OAM, according to the office of the official secretary to the Governor General, a total of five medal of the Order of Australia. OAM honors were awarded across the fields of advocacy, sport and the arts, recognizing each recipient's commitment to improving all areas of the disability community. Mr. Paul Marcus Clark, Mr. Ernest William Drew and Mr. Anthony David Rice were presented with their oams for services to people with disability, while ms, Anna Louise megska received her OAM for service to sports administration, specifically for her role as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Special Olympics Australia. Powerd's very own Miss Eliza hull was also honored with a medal of the Order of Australia, OAM for service to people with disability and to the arts. Miss hull shared the news on social media saying that she is proud to have created representation in music and multimedia that sparks conversations about disability and amplifies the experience of people with disability. My proudest achievement has been advocating for talent, leadership and creativity of Arts with disability in ways that are inclusive and accessible. This recognition belongs to the many communities, collaborators, advocates and artists who have created and advocate. Promoted alongside me and believed in my work. Tasmania's Carolyn Patricia from Mader received her office of the Order of Australia ao Award for distinguished service to people with disability, particularly for her work as dedicated human rights campaigner for women and girls, given her role as the long serving executive director of women with disabilities Australia, the Honorable Stephen Spence Marshall was also awarded an AO for distinguished service to people with disability. And the Parliament of South Australia in the field of Health, Dr Sophie bilici Holmes was honored with the Member of the Order of Australia am award for significant service to mental health, family therapy and to people with disability. MS, Farrah Percy maiden also received an am for significant service to architecture, recognized for a role as lead author of the NDIS specialist disability accommodation SDA design standard, which sets minimum requirements for housing for people with disability. New South Wales athlete Kelly Wren was presented with her am for significant service to tennis, to basketball and to athletes with an intellectual disability. A huge congratulations to all Order of Australia honorees.

Speaker 3  6:20  
Intimacy is a key part of the human experience, but for many within disability community, the subject of desire, love and companionship has long been disregarded, leading some to experience domestic violence and coercion. A new self awareness campaign is aiming to change this, and it's called Love rights. Love rights is a project created through Disability Service Provider Northcott and the New South Wales government providing practical tools, resources and films to educate the disability community on sexual violence. According to the website, it also teaches skills for early intervention, which can reduce sexual violence and address negative attitudes and behaviors that contribute to it. One of the people to play a role in the shaping of love rights is psychotherapist Patrick Rory John. They say the project is a preventatively based model, which teaches the importance of consent. The project was created due to a gap in the industry, particularly in the area of domestic family and sexual violence, where there may be resources out there and support out there to help people become more aware, but they weren't accessible to people with disability. Rory John argues people with disability are far more likely to be at risk of victimization to domestic, family and sexual violence than any other cohort. And they're not wrong. In 2022 the Royal Commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability found that women with disability are twice as likely to experience sexual violence over one year compared to women without disability. Data also shows 46% of women with cognitive disability and 50% of women with psychological disability have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15, compared to 16% of women without disability, according to the findings from the disability Royal Commission deputy chief executive and acting CEO of life without barriers, Leanne Johnson believes relationships, intimacy and sexuality, in all its variations, is a core part of the human experience. She explains that many people with disability experience isolation and have fewer opportunities to explore relationships safely through the disability Royal Commission, it was definitely highlighted that people with a disability have not had the right support and education in this area, at life without barriers. We've been doing an enormous amount of work in this space supporting the human rights of people with a disability to form meaningful relationships, but also control decisions about their sexuality. Psychotherapist Patrick Rory John explains that people with disability are often seen as either incapable of being in relationships or not interested in sex. Often, people with disability are infantilized, treated and seen as children. Because of that, they don't receive vital information from parents, carers, educators on sex, education on consent, boundaries, sexual pleasure, they say disability or not, if you're not taught about these really important concepts that help build healthy relationships, how do you then know when a relationship is unhealthy? How do you know when your boundaries are being violated? When you don't know what your boundaries are because you are never taught them. Acting CEO of life without barriers, Leanne Johnson is calling for more investment into accessible consent education nationwide. Research has shown repeatedly that education reduces risk. It's said over and over again that the more non. Knowledge people have, the more safe they will be. Sex and consent education is important for all of us to ensure safety, autonomy and wellbeing. I think when people understand consent and boundaries, they're better able to protect themselves, and they can communicate their needs and form healthy relationships.

Speaker 2  10:19  
Thank you, ladies, I think this is a topic that never goes out of style, really, and and I was lucky enough to speak with a disability advocate who promotes the rights of people with disability sexual education. So their name is Patrick Rory, John. They are a psychotherapist, and they were one of the people who they were one of several people who banded together to create a online resource for sex education and consent education for disability.

Sam Rickard  10:58  
And of course, we will be including that link in the podcast notes dear listener. So please feel free to look us up there. If you are listening on the radio, then you can find us on Powerd at DOT media. So yeah, that was interesting, really. Was that mykella, when she was reading this, she also volunteers in the field of foster kids and troubled children, and she said, There's a similar problem there, and that is, often you have young kids, and yes, they're curious. They want to know what's going on. Their bodies are doing interesting things, but no one wants to talk about it, so they go off and they make mistakes.

Speaker 2  11:34  
And look, this is an issue across many minority groups. You know, as these foster kids and young adults with disability, and I'm sure that people in the cotton community struggle to get this kind of education as well, and I think that there needs to be a lot more funding and a lot more dedication to sex education for different communities. And I've always said to myself, Australia is the first world country that in some ways, we're still so far behind the rest of the world in terms of what the disability community can get their hands on,

Sam Rickard  12:22  
but dear listener, you've got your hands on our show, and we are out of time. We have a packed schedule in the next couple of weeks. But one thing that's in a case of developing which we had to hold back one story because it's about to change, and that is the Beloved, thriving Kids program, yay. So tell us what's going on here. Mark was about to talk on the issue,

Speaker 2  12:48  
so we're actually talking right now as we speak, as we're recording this. And last week, they were debating whether or not to delay the rollout of thriving kids from July 1 to October, and I think they have decided to delay it. Don't quote me on that until I'm completely across it, but, um, but it's looking like they they will delay that and that they're now sharing with everyone the thriving kids Advisory Group report that's coming out. So I'll have a lot more on this topic for you next week.

Sam Rickard  13:33  
I thoroughly doubt whether what we're going to hear is that it's been such a great such a great idea, that they're rolling it out in May, for example. Has to be a delay of some sort, usually. I mean, it's such an interesting program, we might say, if we want to be polite anyway, that is a wrap for this rap. We will catch you next week. Bye, bye.

Speaker 1  13:54  
You can find these articles and more by going to Powerd dot media, along with a podcast of this show, the Powerd news rap was brought to you by disability media Australia. This show was produced by Sam Ricard in the Adelaide studios of Vision Australia radio.