Chairwoman of the Fremantle-based Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts WA, Helen Errington, said it was women with disabilities who found it the hardest.
A forum to discuss the issue will be held in Victoria Park at VisAbility on Thursday.
"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," Ms Errington said.
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READ NOWShe said the forum would 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.
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."
Ms Errington said the marginalisation was rarely intentional but positive promotion was needed to help people get over their "automatic" views.