Facilitators

Meet the facilitators from each state below.

QLD:

Katie Kelly OAM PLY (BA, MBus) - is a two times Paralympian (2016, 2020), and Australian Paralympic Gold Medallist as she won Australia’s first medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympics in Paratriathlon in the vision impaired class. She has also won two World Championships (2015, 2017) and was the first female para-triathlete to win Triathlon Australia's female athlete of the year award. Katie founded Sport Access Foundation in 2017, a registered listed charity. Sport Access Foundation provides sporting grants to improve access for Australian children with a disability to play sport. Katie retired from high performance sport after her final race at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and is now focussed on a career in Diversity and Inclusion in the corporate and community sectors.

Elle Steele is a 5-time Australian swimming representative, Paralympian, Gold medalist, and TEDx speaker. Elle is also the National Project Manager of BISC and a motivational speaker. Born with a disability called Arthrogryposis, Elle’s life experiences have given her insights that assist her in also working with disability organisations in advocacy and strategy planning. Her past disability advocacy work has included ANZ, Merri-Bek Council, The Victorian Institute of Sport, The Surf Coast Shire, AFDO, and WorkSafe. 

ACT:

Brandie O’Connor - From 2010 to 2015 Brandie represented Australia as a para cyclist at national and world events. Brandie is a former world record holder and a Commonwealth Games medallist. In 2016, Brandie joined the Vikings Cycling Club Committee as the Women’s Development Officer and represented the club on the Cycling ACT Women’s Development Sub-Committee. In 2017, Brandie initiated the first ever ACT interclub Women’s Road Development Program to improve women’s participation at club racing. She designed the governance process to support its successful operation for a further two years and coaching of 60 women. Brandie also collaborated with senior coaches to design and deliver the programs. Brandie is passionate about person-centred universal design in sport and recreation. Brandie has more than 20 years’ experience advocating for universal design in the workplace for people who are vision impaired. Brandie’s current studies in Sport and Exercise Science (Clinical Exercise Physiology) is positioning Brandie to uplift the inclusiveness of disabled working professionals in the sport and exercise field.

Renae Domaschenz - Renae is a 2020 Toyko Paralympian and world champion high performance coach in the sport of Rowing. A strong role model for women in sport – she was awarded a place on the 2022 AIS Women Athlete Accelerate Program and 2020 AIS Women in Sport Leadership Talent Program funded by the Australian Government’s office for Women. Currently, providing leadership, facilitation and specialist advice for KPMG’s Policy, Economics and Public Impact Team, Renae is also an experienced medical and life sciences leader who has led and delivered several complex multi-disciplinary and multi-institutionalised projects with industry domestically and worldwide.

TAS:

Katherine Reed - At 19 Katherine Reed broke her back, leaving her a paraplegic. This opened up the world of wheelchair basketball, which Katherine threw herself into for the next 5 years. Katherine began playing locally in my hometown of Launceston, then soon travelling to play regional competitions in Victoria. Katherine spent 5 seasons playing with the Victorian team in the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League (first Dandenong, then later Kilsyth). Katherine was also part of the Australian women’s shadow squad in the lead-up to London Paralympics, and the Australian under-23 women’s team that travelled to Canada in 2011. Katherine facilitate’s many school groups, doing talks about spinal cord injury and/or wheelchair basketball clinics. Some of these have been through Paraquad, and many have been organised privately. Katherine always enjoys helping those around her find ways to involve those with disabilities and to provide for opportunities for those with disabilities in her local community.

Marcelle Kersenboom - Marcelle believes there is a real need for education when it comes to the inclusion of those with more “hidden” disabilities. Marcelle draws on my own personal experiences when running theatre workshops for children with disability. In these workshops, the children deal with sensory impairment, and Marcelle starts every session with a calming activity such as mindfulness activities, and or soft music and by sitting on the ground with lights dimmed or blinds drawn. This allows the children to relax into the environment. Marcelle also works at Giant Steps, an independent school for children with autism. Marcelle often takes the children to the school gym or the outside exercise equipment, through these practices, Marcelle sees how they help give much-needed respite and time out from all the concentration needed for the class work. In the gym there were tricycles, mats, a mini trampoline, scooters, balls and much more.

VIC:

Jessi Hopper - is currently completing a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Disability and Inclusion at Deakin University. Jessi, being new to a life with disability has taken it in her stride and is now an aspiring Paralympian for Boccia, competing in State and National competitions in the last 12 months. Jessi is a confident and personable speaker, with insights on lived experience, including the transition from life without disability to life with disability.

Melissa Hale - is a highly accomplished professional with a proven ability to deliver excellence in authentic and inclusive leadership, disability inclusion and stakeholder engagement. Melissa is currently the Head of Women’s Cricket Australia and a Cricket Victoria Ambassador. Melissa’s role as Community Ambassador representing Deaf and hard of hearing cricket players and facilitate the creation pathways for Deaf and hard of hearing men, women and children to participate both in mainstream cricket clubs and to provide opportunities for them to participate in their state, national and international Deaf cricket competitions.

WA:

Taishar Ovens - is a hardworking and passionate individual with international experience representing Australia at the Paralympic Games in Wheelchair Basketball. Taishar has a strong knowledge of clients and individuals with disabilities, where she shares her expertise through her work at CoAct VisAbility. Taishar is passionate about promoting inclusivity and accessibility for individuals with disabilities and is excited about the opportunity to work with Disability Sports Australia to create and deliver programs for clients and the community.

Kerrie Duff - Kerrie is a Paralympian, Bronze medalist in the 400m Freestyle at the 1984 Games held in the UK. Kerrie currently holds a Cert IV in TAE (including the LLN unit) and a Masters in Human Rights from Curtin University. She is committed to working towards equity in sport, and life in general, for people with disability and have long standing personal and professional experience in advocacy. Kerrie currently works in team building a private niche company that works with community groups/ corporates/ organisations/ schools to develop their team building skills.