Uncle Lester Bostock OAM was the Founding Elder and long-time Board member of both FPDN and the Aboriginal Disability Network NSW. Uncle Lester passed away in November 2017. We pay our respects to him as our Founding Elder and acknowledge his tireless work over decades to progress the rights and opportunities of Aboriginal people.

Uncle Lester was a proud Bundjalung man with disability who was at the forefront of promoting and protecting the human rights of Aboriginal people with disability in Australia over several decades.
Lester publicly introduced the concept of “double disadvantage” and how it relates to Aboriginal people with disability in 1991 when he gave the Meares Oration entitled Access and equity for people with a double disadvantage.
Uncle Lester is widely recognised as one of the pioneers of Aboriginal media in Australia.

Uncle Lester received numerous awards for community service over the years including a Centenary Medal, the NSW Law and Justice Foundation Award for Aboriginal Justice and in 2010 Uncle Lester was the NAIDOC Elder of the year.

Read Uncle Lester’s Eulogy.

Read the tribute.

Aunty Leila Gayle Rankine was Chairperson since the formal constitution of the First Peoples Disability Network in 2014. Her advocacy for people with disability goes back to the very beginning of our social movement. She was also widely known and respected as a leading voice for all Australians with disability.
Gayle was a Ngarrindjeri woman born in Raukkan (Point McLeay Mission) on Lake Alexandrina in South Australia.
Gayle represented Australia and FPDN at the United Nations in Geneva and New York.
Gayle was recognised for her extensive knowledge of the needs of people with disability across urban, rural and remote communities. She had a lived experience as a person with physical disability and as a carer of relatives with physical and neurological disability, including autism.

Read Aunty Gayle’s Eulogy

Read the tribute.

Kay Sadler is a Worimi woman of the Biripi nation born on the Pacific Highway, ten kilometres south of Taree.

Kay is a delegate to the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples and a member of the Biripi Land Council. She holds a Diploma of Business (Governance) from Tranby Aboriginal College.

Mali Hermans is a disabled and neurodivergent Wiradjuri woman deeply invested in disability justice and abolitionist work. Mali is a Senior Policy Officer at FPDN with a focus on the justice system, gender-based violence prevention and international human rights advocacy.

Alicia Johnson (AJ) Is a Barkindji and Buri Gubba woman, with a background in Indigenous child protection and casement. AJ is a Senior Policy Officer within FPDN with a focus on early intervention and the out of home care system.

Sophie Geeves is a young disabled woman who is passionate about all things NDIS, education and advocating for a more equal society. She works as a policy officer at FPDN.

Kylee is a project officer at FPDN, working on the DSSP and the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health.

She has extensive experience in health, inclusion for people with intellectual disability and especially in Easy Read.

She is also a proud mum of 3, who lives with C-PTSD and continues to show her commitment to ongoing learning in human rights and social justice.

Elena is a descendant of the Paredarerme Nation, located on the east coast of Trouwunna/lutruwita (tasmania). Elena’s background is in early childhood, child protection and the welfare and wellbeing of disabled First Peoples. Elena has multiple complex disabilities and splits their time between Trouwunna and Naarm.

Jodi Lamanna is a neurodivergent person, and is a policy officer at FPDN. Jodi has a background in research that focussed on education, equity and employment.

Kelly Cox has been an active member of the Disability Rights Movement in Australia for a number of years, both at a grassroots and organisational level. She holds specific interest in International disability and human rights work and has represented at the United Nations on various occasions.