Tom Shakespeare is the Director of Outreach at the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Institute in Newcastle. His non-fiction books include Genetics Politics: from Eugenics to Genome and The Sexual Politics of Disability.                  

Tom  is interested in the predicament of disability  ­ the personal experience of impairment, but also social reactions to disabled people ­ stereotype, humour, incomprehension, hostility.  With its frailty, mortality and grace, the body can both bring us together and also set us apart.  Tom is best known as an academic: he has talked and written about disability, science and bioethics for audiences all over the world.  He has also made stand-up comedy, documentary film, and increasingly fictional writing.  In 2004, he wrote and performed No Small Inheritance, a one-person show at Newcastle Live Theatre.  Tom writes an entertaining and provocative monthly column for the BBC.

Moderator: Dr Rhonda Galbally AO, Chair, Disability Advisory Council

Ms Rhonda Galbally AO has focused her life's work on making a difference for a more equitable society. Rhonda's dynamic leadership in creating new solutions for organisations and communities is consolidated by her vast experience in social policy and health development. Rhonda is currently the CEO of the first Australian social investment company Our Community.

Previously Rhonda established the Australian International Health Institute (Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne). In that role she initiated the Asia Pacific hub at the University of Melbourne for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Child Vaccination Program. Rhonda began the ground breaking Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) and was its CEO for ten years. Prior to that Rhonda was the founding CEO of the Australian Commission for the Future. Rhonda is on a number of Boards including being Chair of the Royal Women's Hospital and the Australian Football League Foundation. She is the Patron of Orygen - the Youth Mental Health Centre and also of the Sustainable Living Foundation.