Disability Action Week 2025: Communicate. Connect. Create.

Posted on Monday 24th November 2025

23–30 November 2025

Disability Action Week is a statewide celebration of accessibility, inclusion and the simple actions we can all take to make Queensland a place where everyone can participate fully. This year’s theme — Communicate. Connect. Create. — encourages all of us to put accessible communication into practice and recognise its role in building stronger, more inclusive communities.

Small changes matter. By making information easier to understand, offering alternative formats, improving event accessibility, or taking the time to ask someone about their communication preferences, we help create environments where everyone feels welcome, respected and supported.

Shining a Spotlight on Hopkins Research

The Hopkins Centre is a leading translational research centre in disability and rehabilitation, based at Griffith University and Princess Alexandra Hospital. Our work focuses on finding practical solutions to complex challenges through interdisciplinary, collaborative and responsive research that is embedded directly in practice.

While disability and rehabilitation research rarely makes headlines in the same way that medical breakthroughs do, it is essential work. Because we work alongside people with disability, their families, clinicians, policymakers and service organisations, we see firsthand where innovation is needed — and we act on it.

We are committed to valuing the voice of people with disability in every stage of decision-making and discovery. Their insights shape our research, guide our priorities and ensure we develop solutions that genuinely improve quality of life.

We regularly produce accessible and alternative-format resources, co-design tools with end users, and embed accessibility in all engagement — from Easy Read and plain language materials to inclusive events, captioning, Auslan, and culturally appropriate communication approaches.

This year, we are highlighting three impactful projects: co-designing communication tools for people with spinal cord injury, developing accessible sleep resources for people with SCI, and strengthening mental health support pathways for PhD students through inclusive, evidence-based approaches.

We need your support to continue designing high-quality solutions, services and systems that make a real difference.

To get involved or explore current research opportunities, visit hopkinscentre.edu.au/participate-research or email hopkinscentre@griffith.edu.au.

SPOTLIGHT PROJECTS FOR DISABILITY ACTION WEEK

1. Co-designing Communication Tools in the Spinal Injuries Unit
Clear and respectful communication is essential in healthcare, especially for people with complex communication needs. We are partnering with people with spinal cord injury, families, clinicians and lived-experience researchers to co-design a new communication resource for the Metro South Health Spinal Injuries Unit.

Join our online co-design workshops (Microsoft Teams):

· Patients & Families: Thursday 4 December, 12pm

· Staff: Monday 8 December, 10am

Contact: Dr Kelsey Chapman (Research Fellow) – dignityproject@griffith.edu.au

2. Sleep and Spinal Cord Injury
Poor sleep affects two in three people with spinal cord injury, yet many do not receive the support they need. Dr Emily Bray and her team at The Hopkins Centre, together with Spinal Life Australia, the Institute for Breathing and Sleep and QSCIS, have co-designed new evidence-based resources to help people understand sleep changes and explore strategies that support better rest and wellbeing.

Communicate: This project aims to raise awareness of sleep issues following SCI and to share the best ways to manage them from the perspectives of people with SCI and healthcare professionals.

Connect: Researchers, clinicians, and people with SCI collaborated through a series of co-design workshops to identify how to address SCI-specific sleep issues and their preferred approaches to managing them.

Create: The main result of this project has been the creation of co-designed sleep management resources tailored to the needs and preferences of people with SCI.

Key findings and solutions include:

Sleep issues following SCI emerge early after the injury and persist throughout life. It is crucial to raise awareness among people with SCI and clinicians about the harmful effects of poor sleep quality, the causes of sleep disturbances, and possible solutions. Participants suggested various solutions, including early and routine assessments, as well as educational resources that researchers and clinicians could explore to address these issues.

Learn more and access the resources:
https://www.hopkinscentre.edu.au/project/seed-project-sleep-disturbances-following-spinal-163

Contact Dr Emily Bray:
https://www.hopkinscentre.edu.au/people-view/emily-bray-177

3. Creating Supportive Pathways for PhD Student Mental Health
Behind the prestige of a PhD lies a hidden mental health crisis. Many candidates face severe distress, driven by isolation, financial pressure, and perfectionism, with research suggesting up to one-third meet suicide-risk criteria. PhD researcher Ali Khan at The Hopkins Centre focuses on better mental health support and adjustments for PhD students, particularly those with psychosocial disabilities.

Communicate: The project aims to break the silence around PhD mental health, fostering open communication between students, supervisors, and institutions to remove bureaucratic barriers to support.

Connect: By bringing together all the key stakeholders, the research builds connections to combat isolation and create a collaborative, supportive academic community.

Create: The goal is to create practical, systemic solutions and more inclusive policies that support the mental well-being and academic success of all PhD students.

Key findings and solutions include:

· Key Risks: Loneliness, impostor syndrome, financial instability, and supervisor-student misalignment are major predictors of distress.

· Effective Strategies: Digital mental health tools, peer financial mentoring, and therapeutic approaches like music therapy show significant promise as accessible, low-cost interventions.

Learn more and access resources:

The Research Project: Improving Mental Health Accommodations for PhDs

Contact Ali Khan: ali.khan3@griffithuni.edu.au