The Aspect Board decided in June 2017 to develop the Aspect Advisory Council comprising up to nine Autistic people.
The purpose of the Council is:
- To talk about things that are important to Autistic people
- To make sure the voices of Autistic people are heard in decision making at Aspect
The Aspect Advisory Council is an essential part of the governance of Aspect. The Council provides independent advice to the Board and Aspect’s Executive team on governance issues, including the management of corporate strategy and risk, based on the Members’ own insights and experiences. The terms of reference for the Council are part of Aspect’s Regulations which can be found on Aspect’s website.
The framework for the Council was based on work done by Dimensions, a leading disability organisation in the United Kingdom. They had tried a range of approaches to engage with people with disabilities in their organisation’s governance and found this to be the most successful. Aspect acknowledges the assistance we have received from Dimensions to form our Advisory Council.
The current membership of the council is: Andrew Radford, Krishna Sadhana, Daniel Giles, Elise Muller, Jac De Houting, Josh Crawford, Paul Micallef, Spencer Thew, Tammy McGowan, Téa Rundback.
Meet the members of the Advisory Council
Elise Muller
Elise is a successful Indigenous elite athlete and Autism Advocate. Elise is an Autistic Specialist Lived Experience Consultant, CEO and Founder of Active Support Services Autism Consultancy. She engages in mentoring, and public speaking. Elise is also a Board Member of Australia and New Zealand Autistic Advocacy ASAN and is an elite athlete and AFL first ever Disability Ambassador player.
Paul Micallef
Paul Micallef is an autistic life coach, speaker, facilitator and trainer, with a passion for neurodiversity and emotional intelligence. Leveraging his own lived experience, as well as insights gained from many years working with the autistic community, Paul seeks to promote emotional and psychological safety by bridging the empathy gap between mainstream and neurodivergent culture.
Krishna Sadhana
Autism and ADHD were collaborators in designing Krishna, who was diagnosed at age 62.
A retired social worker with over 30 years of experience working in the fields of grief/loss, disability and paediatrics she describes herself as a “haphazard and loving” parent of five children, two of whom are also autistic.
In 2016 she accidentally became ACT Senior Woman of the Year for her ongoing support of vulnerable women, and also is the recipient of several Pride awards for her contributions to the LGBTIQ+ community.
Krishna joined the Council in 2017 and is committed to strengthening the voices of autistic people.”
Téa Rundback
Téa Rundback is a proud neurodivergent, disabled woman who is a disability activist, business owner, speaker, emcee and lived experience researcher. She graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction, majoring in Human Resource Management, and is a trained psychosocial recovery coach. Her research topics of interest include disability employment, invisible disabilities and neurodivergence. Téa applies her lived experience, skills, and education to create a positive impact on the lives of others with invisible disabilities and neurodivergence.
Daniel Giles
Daniel is proudly Autistic and works tirelessly as an advocate for Autistic individuals and others with diverse needs. He was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 2.5 years.
Daniel commenced his education at a special school. With support from his family, teachers and many others, Daniel transitioned from special education to mainstream schooling and successfully completed his VCE. He then went on to complete a Bachelor of Graphic Design (Hons) at La Trobe University, Bendigo.
As an adult, Daniel works part-time as a graphic designer and does a range of volunteer work. Since adolescence, Daniel has been a keen advocate for social justice and promoting the understanding of Autism. This was recognised in 2008 when Daniel, at the age of 18, received the City of Greater Bendigo’s Young Citizen of the Year award.
Daniel has been a member of myriad disability committees, including the Victorian Disability Advisory Council (Department of Health and Human Services), the Victorian Government’s Accessible Transport Advisory Committee, the V/Line Accessibility Reference Group and the Victorian Government’s Autism State Plan Stakeholder Advisory Group. Daniel is passionate about educating the community about being Autistic and mentoring other Autistic people. In recognition of his extensive work in this area, Daniel was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2017 for his “Service to Disability and the Community”.