Leadership forum for women with disabilities

Chair of the Fremantle-based organisation Helen Errington said it was women with disabilities who found it the hardest.

"Women with disability, in particular rural women with disability, have been the most marginalised of all disability populations when it comes to leadership and governance," she said.

In a bid to address this, Ms Errington and DADAA will convene a forum this week to raise awareness about women with disability gaining leadership roles.

The forum will include talks from some of WA's most successful women leaders in policy, disability and the arts.

Speaking from her own experience, Ms Errington said she had to overcome a lot of myths and society's attitude to disability before she could get to a leadership role.

"There were exceptional people around but by and large the broader groups in community with disability were marginalised to a degree," she said.

�Some of this has to do with expectations of the ambitions for people with disability by society and people can be fearful of engaging with people with disability; they don't know what to say.

�I felt others were getting a better go than me because of my disability, but I just needed a few resources to give me a leg up.

"I could think, write, speak and learn. I just needed a wheelchair and a ramp."

While Ms Errington said the marginalisation was rarely intentional, positive promotion was needed to help people get over their "automatic" views.

The forum will be held on April 16 at VisAbility in Victoria Park from 11am to 4pm.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Ricky on 9430 6616.