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25 Jul 2025, by Amy Sarcevic
Emma Bennison has never let her blindness stand in the way of career success.
As an award-winning CEO, Ted-Talker, and disability advocate, she is considered exceptional by most peoples’ standards.
But – as she likes to point out to opponents of her inclusive leadership advocacy – she is far from an ‘anomaly’.
“This label has been bestowed on me many times, and it disturbs me,” she said, ahead of the National Disability Summit.
“There are plenty of people with disability who flourish in senior leadership roles. We’re just not often given the opportunity to prove it.”
Dispelling myths
For Ms Bennison, the lack of disability inclusion is the product of myths around what people with disability can and cannot do.
“For instance, there is a fear that people with intellectual disability won’t have appropriate decision-making capacity,” she said.
“Obviously, there are some people who may not be able to contribute, but there are lots of us who can, and it is absolutely possible to make board processes and so forth, accessible to us.”
Ms Bennison says even employers with open minds and good intentions can fall prey to these myths.
“It’s become quite trendy to hire people with lived experienced, but there is often this perception that if someone brings lived experience, that’s all they bring. People don’t seem comfortable with the idea that these things are not mutually exclusive.
“You can have a person who has lived experience, who might also be an excellent CEO or Director. And these people are not as rare as you think.”
While opportunities for people with disability are growing, Ms Bennison is concerned that many are tokenistic or acts of perceived altruism.
“I think too many disability hires are about virtue signalling, or employers thinking they are doing something good for the community.
“And sadly, I believe the same could be true for co-design. I’ve seen many co-design models, where people with disability have been asked, but not actually listened to. Their recommendations are ignored – and, more often than not, they are not paid for their contributions.
“Of course, this all ties in with the myth that people with disability don’t make good leaders. We are seen as people who need support and rarely considered in terms of what we offer society.”
First-hand experience
Ms Bennison’s comments are based on more than just theory.
When applying for a C-level position, a former associate expressed concern that she would not be able to fulfil the travel requirements of the role. This is despite knowing Ms Bennison was already travelling extensively in her current C-level position.
“This rendered me a little speechless,” she said. “The hiring manager knew me and was aware I was experienced in travelling.
“Perhaps he was projecting his own insecurities and shortcomings onto me, but nonetheless, these concerns should have been overshadowed by my demonstrated efficacy.”
After advocating for twenty years, Ms Bennison has also gotten used to similar comments from industry peers.
“I continually hear arguments like ‘we need someone skilled and talented to lead organisations and we might not be able to find a person with disability who has those skills.
“And I think that is actually rubbish – particularly these days when we’ve got so many leadership training courses.
“What I would also say is, if that is the case, then what are our service providers doing to create pathways and talent pipelines for us? And the answer is, quite frankly, not enough. Nowhere near enough.”
Diverse leadership is essential for disability services
For Ms Bennison, the idea that misconceptions are limiting employment opportunities for people with disability is particularly problematic when it comes to recruiting leaders for disability organisations.
“This is a problem on several counts,” she said. “Firstly, it betrays the ‘nothing about us, without us’ mantra, which is now widely accepted as a guiding principle for disability policy.
“Secondly –the input of lived experience hires makes for better services better.”
Further insight
Sharing more thoughts on inclusive leadership in disability services, Emma Bennison will present at the upcoming National Disability Summit, hosted by Informa Connect.
This year’s event will be held September 18-19, 2025, at the Crown Melbourne.
Learn more and register your tickets here.
Informa Connect Australia is the nation's leading event organiser. Our events comprise of large scale exhibitions, industry conferences and highly specialised corporate training.
