Youth Advisory Group

Ajar Sana (she/her) has over eight years of advocacy and policy experience in gender-based violence, disability justice and youth issues. Her advocacy stems from grassroots organising and community development, and embodies feminist and intersectional frameworks to achieve equity and true inclusion of women, non-binary and gender non-conforming people with disabilities.

She offers a strong understanding of the diverse range of experiences of people with disabilities from multiply marginalised communities and a commitment to successfully engaging them. She has served on several committees and boards focused on social policy reform – including the ACT Disability Reference Group, ACT Ministerial Council on Women, Women With Disabilities Australia Youth Advisory Group, Women With Disabilities ACT, and 
the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. She represented YWCA Australia as a delegate at the United Nation’s 65th Commission on the Status of Women and is currently undertaking a Community Organising Fellowship by The Change Agency, as she strongly believes in the power of youth to achieve social change. 

Amy James (she/her) is a young woman with disability who lives in Tennant Creek in the Barkly region of the Northern Territory. Amy is good at lots of things and has a strong passion for the performing arts; particularly singing and acting.

In her community in Tennant Creek, Amy helped set up the Barkly Young Women’s Group, which is a group of young women with disability who met to discuss their experiences and ideas. Amy has also been involved in WWDAs previous work, helping to design and create our website for women and girls with disability, Our Site.

Amy Marks (she/her) is a 24-year-old digital media creative and disability activist. Amy works with a specialised focus on making media and spaces accessible for young people with disability. 

She has previously worked for the Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS) and Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA), and has sat on panels for the National Disability Strategy.

Amy’s passion lies in media creation and production, and she uses her skill set to amplify the voices of disabled people in the media. 

Amy is passionate about making sure disability activism is intersectional and representative. 

Charlotte Young (she/her) is a student and youth advocate from Victoria, and currently based in Canberra, Australia on Ngunnawal country.

Coming from a multicultural background with a hearing loss, Charlotte has always been naturally interested and engaged with hearing and advocating for the stories of others, especially with how they navigate intersectional identities. She has worked across different local, national and international organisations and companies to help young people have a place in Australia’s political conversations, promoting intersectional policy making and advocating for diverse representation. She is currently studying a double degree of Politics, Philosophy and Economics/Arts at the Australian National University and is serving as the Chair of Diversity at Burgmann College. In her spare time, she enjoys practicing contemporary dance, travelling, cooking, spending time in nature and wandering around art institutions.

Cindy (she/her) is a passionate youth advocate, currently studying psychology and criminology at university. She is passionate about increasing mental health literacy, disability rights and diverse representation.

Through her focus on bringing forth the voices and concerns of young people and exploring how society, culture, identity and spaces affect young people and vice versa. She has done work with organisations such as Headspace to increase mental health literacy in the community, the Youth Disability Advocacy Service to advocate for disability rights, and the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network for diverse representation in space of intersectionality.

Em is a dedicated and passionate advocate based in Boorloo/Perth, where they work as a Consultant specializing in youth and disability advocacy. Drawing on an intersectional lived experience perspective, Em is deeply committed to contributing to and advancing the advocacy sector. Their extensive background in disability advocacy and leadership, coupled with a degree in Political Science, fuels their drive for activism. Em’s work is cantered around empowering and amplifying voices within their community, reflecting their steadfast dedication to making a meaningful impact. 

Holly James (she/her) is a queer woman who lives in Adelaide on the lands the kaurna and Peramangk people. 

Holly has a multitude of lived experiences with many chronic illnesses, autism and an intellectual disability. Holly has lived experience both as a child and as an parent with disabilities in the child protection, NDIS and other welfare systems and She has spent time in residential care.   

Holly advocates tirelessly to enhance access to government support and services for children, young people, and families navigating health and child protection systems, especially those with invisible disabilities.  

Holly holds certificates in Advocacy and Advanced Counselling and is an active member of advisory groups. She aspires to further her education with a focus on social work and law, with the aim of specialising in child protection matters or malpractice. 

Sophie is a neurodivergent, chronically ill, mentally ill and disabled woman from a remote part of Lutruwita/Tasmania. Sophie wants to work with other people with disabilities and engage in policy about disabilities. She is completing her university degree in Public Health and is passionate about policy and improving health care. Whilst currently working in retail, Sophie is a representative on a co-design panel for community health in remote Tasmania.   

Sofie Anderson (she/her) is a recently diagnosed “triple-A battery” (autism, ADHD, and anxiety) who is passionate about neurodivergent self-advocacy. She lives on the land of the Gadigal and Wangal people. She want to help make this world more inclusive and accessible by prioritising kindness, understanding, and recognition of the intersectional kaleidoscope of experiences that comprise humanity.   

Sofie recognises the pervasive structural ableism, especially in the underdiagnosis of neurodiverse women and lack of research on women’s neurodivergent experiences. She believes that education is crucial for normalising disability, reducing stigma, and fostering collective responsibility for accessibility. 

Sofie is a music nerd – she is both a chorister and soprano who has sung in a chamber opera at the Sydney Opera House, on tour in Spain and Portugal, and to herself in the shower. Sofie is also self-confessed linguaphile and ovovegetarian cook. In her spare time she likes to stim, play piano, start random hobbies, do those dot-to-dot page things, braid hair, laugh at neurospicy memes, and watch cheesy movies with my friends at sleepovers. 

Rae  (he/they) has personal experience living in crisis is housing. They hope to advocate for more medium-term accommodation themselves and other soon. As a medium support needs autistic individual, Rae also navigates challenges related to OCD, mental health issues, and Dissociative Seizures.  They balance high school studies with their part-time job at McDonald’s, but Rae is on track to graduate in the next year. With a deep passion for music, Rae is both a clarinet player and a singer-songwriter. 

Committed to addressing the inaccessibility faced by young people with disabilities living independently, Rae seeks to highlight these issues and collaborate with other young disabled individuals to drive meaningful change. 

Rhea is a Veterinary Medicine student, and a dedicated youth advocate with the Queensland Family and Child Commission. She leads the “We Are Not Alone” initiative, a program aimed at enhancing social well-being for young people with disabilities, supported by ABC Heywire and funded by the Foundation for Regional Renewal and Rural. Rhea also holds a representative position on the Family Centred Care Committee for Queensland Children’s Hospital and collaborates with Project Rockit to improve safety and accessibility in schools and digital environments. 

In addition to her advocacy work, Rhea volunteers with OZHarvest and participates in environmental and climate initiatives in her regional town, striving to build stronger community connections. Her future aspirations include expanding the impact of “We Are Not Alone” and continuing her veterinary studies with the goal of becoming a veterinary doctor. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, reading, running, and spending time with her dog. 

Sascha (she/her) is a woman with a number of disabilities, recognised but undiagnosed until her late teens and early twenties. She lives with her small but sparky psychiatric assistant dog Scout in Naarm to navigate the world of never ending doctors appointments, hospitals and tests.  

She wants to bring awareness to the limitations that the lack of women focused medicine has on receiving timely and appropriate care. In the future she hopes to be able to return to studies that would lead to a career in helping to break down those barriers.  

She is particularly passionate about the importance of support animals, officially recognised or otherwise, in respect to queer people as part of their chosen family. And hopes to increase awareness and stigma to the general public that assistance dogs comes in more shades than just golden retriever.