Speakers

Elly Desmarchelier is a disability advocate, writer, and movement builder whose work exists at the crossroads of policy, lived experience, and the kind of systemic change that actually sticks.

Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at birth and with ADHD, Autism, and CPTSD in her late twenties, Elly knows first-hand what it means to navigate systems that were never built with you in mind — and what it takes to change them from the inside out.

She has worked within the NDIS, advised the Office of the Prime Minister, and taken her advocacy to the floor of the United Nations in New York. As a lead voice in the Defend Our NDIS campaign, she has helped shape the national conversation on disability rights — appearing on ABC Q+A, at the Sydney Opera House, and in venues that once would have barely registered disabled voices as worth amplifying.

Elly’s work is defined by a simple conviction: that disabled people don’t just deserve a seat at the table — they should be setting the agenda. In the disability employment space, this means asking harder questions. Not just how many disabled people are employed, but whether those jobs are good ones. Whether workplaces are actually built for us. Whether the sector itself is disability-led.

She brings that same directness to everything she does — including this stage.

Elly is based in Brisbane with her very important Labrador, Spencer Joe Biden.