Building Confidence: How an Educational Law Faculty Embraced Inclusion

Inclusivity isn’t just policy, it’s practice. Even highly skilled professionals, like lawyers, sometimes need reminders about how to create a truly inclusive environment for colleagues with physical disabilities.

The Situation

At a national disability inclusion conference in 2025, our National Employer Engagement Manager, Miranda (Maz) Fewick, connected with a senior academic from a large Australian university’s law school.

During their conversation, the academic shared her lived experience as a person with a physical disability working within a complex institution. Despite raising concerns about accessibility in her role, she often felt her voice wasn’t being heard.

She also reflected on the early days of her diagnosis, when she faced comments like:

• “You’re too young for a disability.”
• “When will you get better?”

These remarks revealed a deeper issue: a lack of awareness, understanding, and inclusive behaviour among colleagues and students. It was a reminder that even well‑intentioned workplaces can fall short without the right tools, frameworks, and training.

The Challenge

Many employers assume that awareness automatically translates into action. But unconscious behaviours, outdated assumptions, and gaps in knowledge can create barriers, even in workplaces committed to diversity.

The academic’s experience highlighted the need for structured, practical training that moves beyond compliance, training focused on building confidence in inclusive practice.

The Action

We introduced the academic to our Building Employer Confidence (BEC) Program, outlining our tailored workshops on:

• Inclusive Behaviour
• Inclusive Language
• Disability Awareness

She was enthusiastic and later worked with her organisation’s internal support service, Job Access to nominate EmployAbility as the training provider.

Together, we held a planning session to ensure the workshop responded to her specific accessibility needs. A date was set, and at the university’s city campus we delivered a comprehensive, face‑to‑face workshop attended by 22 staff members and senior leaders from the law school.

The Impact

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. She shared:
“The session was engaging and insightful, and your energy made it such a positive experience for everyone involved. I loved that it had a ’roundtable conference’ vibe where everyone had input, and we allowed people’s voices and experiences to come through. Thank you for facilitating such a wonderful session. I truly appreciate the effort you both put into making the training impactful. I’m so glad we could create a space for meaningful discussion together. I hope we get the opportunity to work together again.”

Since the workshop, she feels increasingly heard and supported, and her colleagues now have a deeper understanding of her accessibility needs. This success has sparked further collaboration:

• The faculty’s leadership team shared their renewed commitment to diversity and inclusion.
• We’ve been invited to conduct a Disability Initial Assessment and develop a Disability Inclusion Action Plan for the faculty.
• Conversations are underway for an Inclusive Recruitment Workshop to continue building capability in early 2026.

Why This Matters

This case study highlights that inclusive behaviour isn’t automatic, not even in highly educated environments. Our BEC Program empowers employers to move beyond awareness and actively embed inclusive practice into everyday workplace culture. Because inclusion shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be second nature.

Contact our BEC team

Want to build a workplace where inclusion is more than a policy? Learn more about our Building Employer Confidence Program and start your journey today.

National Manager: Maz Fenwick MFenwick@scia.org.au

NSW Business Development: Forrest Campbell FCampbell@scia.org.au

NSW Disability Employment Ambassador: Declan Dlee@scia.org.au

VIC Disability Employment Ambassador: Anne Care ACare@scia.org.au

Head of EmployAbility: Jemma Smyth jsmyth@scia.org.au