Ryde Disability Forum inspires fresh ideas

Published on 14 July 2025

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Council recently hosted its annual Ryde Disability Forum with more than 50 attendees joining us on the day.

For the past three years, this event has brought together community members, carers, service providers, and government representatives to share updates, celebrate achievements, and strengthen connections across the sector.

This year’s forum highlighted Council’s key milestones in disability from the past 12 months, including:

  • A Highly Commended award at the 2024 LGNSW Excellence Awards
  • Silver Level recognition in the 2025 Disability Inclusion Benchmarking Services
  • Inclusive employment initiatives, including three identified roles for people with disability at Council
  • Launched the first peer-led employment support program, Empower Ryde, for people with disability 18 years and over, who are living, working, or studying in the City of Ryde area.
  • Developed an inclusive employment toolkit to support employers to employ people with disability

As a result of this work, Council was featured in interviews by Careers at Council, Council for Intellectual Disability, and LGNSW for its leadership in disability inclusion.

Additionally, other councils have reached out to learn from our programs and seek advice on implementing similar initiatives.

The forum also featured performances from our 2024 Ryde Shine Ability Competition winners — DJ Ha and Abby Jayasuriya (with her guide dog, Duke).

The Ryde Shine Ability Competition is a talent quest for people with disability.

Whether you love singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, telling jokes, acting, or performing a magic trick — this competition is open to all talents.

Council announced details and prizes for the upcoming 2025 Ryde Shine Ability Competition and gathered community feedback on the new Disability Arts Competition.

The Disability Arts Competition will be open to people with disability aged 18 and over who live, work, or study in the City of Ryde area.

Both competitions will open in September and lead into our International Day of People with Disability celebrations this December.

Check out the 2025 Ryde Disability Forum video we created on YouTube.

 

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