Having a say conference

The 2014 Having a Say Conference brought together people from all over Australia and the world to share stories, experiences and learn from one another.

Hosted by VALID, an advocacy service in Victoria, the Having a Say conference is run by people with a disability, for people with a disability. This year’s conference theme was “Our Voice” and our team made sure their voice was heard!

For the first time, we presented at the conference. Our presentation ‘Advocacy in Action’ was a great opportunity for us to talk about our rights and self-advocacy training, why it is important to learn about our rights and speaking up for ourselves, and how we can put our advocacy skills into action.

Wayne Williamson shared the self-advocacy he has been doing to ensure a better house for him and his housemates.

“It was great that other people took interest in what we said”, said Erica Halvorsen who shared what she enjoys about being part of the Sydney Rights and Self-Advocacy Group.

Leigh Creighton shared his advocacy journey from attending courses to being employed as a Peer Mentor. “Seeing other people’s walks of life and seeing other advocates was a highlight for me. It’s been an amazing week. I see myself being a human rights advocate but not just for House with No Steps (now Aruma)”, said Leigh.

The group received lots of great feedback about their presentation and were even told it was the best presentation of the conference.