BlakAbility: Confronting Racism and Ableism in Indigenous Education, Justice and Health
Tracks
Ballroom 4 - In-Person Only
| Tuesday, October 13, 2026 |
| 11:50 AM - 12:20 PM |
| Ballroom 4 |
Overview
A/Prof Sheelagh Daniels-Mayes, Dr Sharon Kerr & Dr Aunty Roslyn Sackley, University of Melbourne
Three Key Learnings
This presentation highlights three key learnings about the burden carried at the intersection of Indigeneity and disability. First, disability is often misunderstood, dismissed or shunned in many systems, creating deep ableism that leaves Indigenous people without the support they need. Second, when disability is not recognised or culturally understood, people are blamed for behaviours linked to unmet needs, increasing their risk of harm and punishment. Third, the combined effects of racism and ableism create heavier barriers that are rarely acknowledged. These overlapping burdens limit access, silence voices and prevent Indigenous people with disability from receiving fair and culturally safe support.
Presenter
A/Professor Sheelagh Daniels-Mayes
Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies
University Of Melbourne
BlakAbility: Confronting Racism and Ableism in Indigenous Education, Justice and Health
Presentation Overview
Health equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples cannot be achieved without addressing the silent burden of disability that is often undiagnosed, unsupported and unseen. Across education, health and justice systems, Indigenous Australians living with disability are routinely overlooked, misdiagnosed or excluded from culturally safe support. This reflects entrenched racism and ableism that compound disadvantage and undermine social and emotional wellbeing.
This presentation introduces the BlakAbility project, an ARC‑funded, Indigenous‑led initiative founded by Associate Professor Sheelagh Daniels‑Mayes, a Gomeroi woman based in Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. As a vision‑impaired scholar with more than four decades of lived experience and activism, she has long challenged the structural inequities that marginalise Aboriginal people with disability.
BlakAbility centres Indigenous standpoints and lived experience to rethink how disability is understood and supported in higher education. Through culturally safe, relational research, the project works alongside Indigenous students and staff with disability to co‑design systems that foster dignity, access and success.
The presentation also shares the team’s second initiative, *Barriers Within Bars*, funded by the National Disability Research Partnership. This project responds to the over‑incarceration of Indigenous people with disability, many of whom are criminalised for behaviours linked to unmet support needs. By bringing together knowledge from health, justice and disability sectors, the project shifts the focus from punishment to care, and from invisibility to justice.
Together, these projects challenge dominant narratives and institutional practices. When disability is undiagnosed or unsupported, people are disadvantaged without knowing why. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability are unaware that others receive formal supports and rights under the Disability Discrimination Act.
BlakAbility seeks to disrupt this cycle by embedding culturally safe, rights‑based approaches across health, education and justice, restoring recognition, support and equity for Indigenous Australians living with disability.
This presentation introduces the BlakAbility project, an ARC‑funded, Indigenous‑led initiative founded by Associate Professor Sheelagh Daniels‑Mayes, a Gomeroi woman based in Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. As a vision‑impaired scholar with more than four decades of lived experience and activism, she has long challenged the structural inequities that marginalise Aboriginal people with disability.
BlakAbility centres Indigenous standpoints and lived experience to rethink how disability is understood and supported in higher education. Through culturally safe, relational research, the project works alongside Indigenous students and staff with disability to co‑design systems that foster dignity, access and success.
The presentation also shares the team’s second initiative, *Barriers Within Bars*, funded by the National Disability Research Partnership. This project responds to the over‑incarceration of Indigenous people with disability, many of whom are criminalised for behaviours linked to unmet support needs. By bringing together knowledge from health, justice and disability sectors, the project shifts the focus from punishment to care, and from invisibility to justice.
Together, these projects challenge dominant narratives and institutional practices. When disability is undiagnosed or unsupported, people are disadvantaged without knowing why. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability are unaware that others receive formal supports and rights under the Disability Discrimination Act.
BlakAbility seeks to disrupt this cycle by embedding culturally safe, rights‑based approaches across health, education and justice, restoring recognition, support and equity for Indigenous Australians living with disability.
Biography
Associate Professor Sheelagh Daniels‑Mayes is a Gomeroi woman with low vision based at the University of Melbourne. She teaches Indigenous Studies in the Faculty of Arts. She is Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council project exploring how universities can improve life outcomes for Indigenous people living with disability. Her work develops BlakAbility, a culturally safe and disability‑confident approach to policy and practice. Her research spans racism, Indigenous studies, disability, climate justice and intersectionality, informed by earlier studies in education, psychology, sociology and criminology, and years working in government and community sectors.
