Diversity & Inclusion in Sport Alliance (DISA)
Annual Forum
Welcome to the DISA 2025 forum online resources hub!
🧘♀️ Event Wellbeing Officer 💙
As part of today’s Belonging in Sport theme, remember: your wellbeing matters.
We’re proud to have Caitlin Spencer from SportWest as our Wellbeing Officer. With over a decade of experience in Mental Health First Aid and wellbeing roles, Caitlin is here to support you. Feeling distressed or need a breather? Caitlin is available to chat—just find her near the door or call 📞 0416 636 889 (emergencies: dial 000).
🤝 Communities of Practice 🌟
The Diversity and Inclusion Sporting Alliance (DISA) is excited to announce the launch of a Community of Practice (CoP) — a unique opportunity to empower individuals and organisations with the skills, confidence and connections to make sport more equitable and inclusive.
The CoP provides tools and insights to help you design, deliver, and evaluate impactful, inclusive programs. You will gain a deeper understanding of intersectionality to address the unique barriers that underrepresented communities face in accessing and participating in sport.
Participants of the CoP will gain insights in:
💡 Cutting-Edge Knowledge: Learn from the latest research and best practices in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in sport.
🛠️ Practical Skills: Develop actionable strategies to create safe, flexible environments that embrace diverse communities.
🤔 Collaborative Problem-Solving: Engage with like-minded professionals to tackle challenges in promoting participation for those who face greater barriers to engage.
🌍 A Focus on Intersectionality: Delve into how different identities and inequalities intersect and explore ways to create truly inclusive sporting opportunities for all.
💻 Over 6 hybrid, 1-hour interactive sessions, enjoy in-person and live-streamed content, including engaging break-outs and knowledge nuggets to inspire action and learning.
🎯 Target Audience: Practitioners passionate about building equitable and inclusive sports environments.
📝 How to Register ✨
Complete the DISA Community of Practice Expression of Interest form to secure your spot at our first session in Melbourne, March 2025. Spaces are limited, so act fast!
Related Resources and Useful Links 🔗
This section provides a selection of resources and links that may be helpful for DISA Forum attendees, though it is not an exhaustive list.
🤝 Intersectionality
- Roadmap: An all-inclusive approach to governance and leadership in Australian sport [ASC]
- Media Release: Embracing diversity key to making sport truly inclusive [ASC]
- Intersectionality Explained [UN Women]
- Intersectionality resource guide and toolkit [UN Women]
- Gender, age, and disability: Addressing the intersection [UN Women]
- Kimberlé Crenshaw: The urgency of intersectionality | TED Talk
- Intersectionality, explained: meet Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term | Vox
🖤💛❤️ First Nations
- Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country – Reconciliation Australia
- Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country – Indigenous.gov.au
- Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners
- Aboriginal cultural capability toolkit
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – eSafety Commissioner
- Reconciliation action plans – Reconciliation Australia
- Checklist for an Inclusive Community Sports Organisation – Red Dust Heelers
- Running an Indigenous Round Information Kit – GippSport
🌈 LGBTQ+
- 2025 Pride in Sport Award Nominations
- Pride in Sport Index: Your LGBTQ+ Roadmap
- PSI Practice Points (LGBTQ+ Key Insights)
- Inclusive Bathrooms Signage
- Anti-Homophobia & Inclusion Framework for Australian Sport
- Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport [community]
- Transgender & Gender Diverse Inclusion Guidelines for High Performance Sport
- TransHub: A digital resource platform for trans and gender diverse people, their allies, and health providers
- HIV & Sport: Myths vs Truths
- LGBTQ Days of Significance
🌍 Multicultural
- Social Change Through Sport [CMSport]
- Cultural inclusion creates wins on and off the sporting field
- Informal Learning: tips for creating coach & volunteer support networks
- How to communicate better to increase diversity
- Language Matters – A Dictionary for Multicultural Sport
- How to coach multicultural youth in sport
- How to design culturally-safe junior sport experiences
- Engaging Multicultural Women and Girls in Sport
♿🦾 Disability
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- Persons with Disability and Sport – Clearinghouse for Sport
- Adapting and modifying sport for people with disability [ASC]
- Inclusion of People with Disability – Play by the Rules
- Downloadable resources – Deaf Sports Australia
- How to be an inclusive club resources – AAA Play
- PWDA Language Guide: A guide to language about disability
- Guide to inclusive language in sport for people with disability – Inclusive Sport Design
📚 Related Research
- AusPlay – The Australian sport and physical activity participation survey
- Participation, barriers, facilitators and bullying experiences of trans people in sport and fitness: findings from a national community survey of trans people in Australia
- Are we there yet?(Illusions of) Inclusion in sport for LGBT+ communities in Australia
- Developing participation opportunities for young people with disabilities? Policy enactment and social inclusion in Australian junior sport
- Sport and Social Exclusion in Global Society
- Sport policy and the integration of refugee backgrounded women
- Beyond the Rings: Exploring the Cultural and Behavioral Impact of the 2024 Paris Olympics
- Diversity and inclusion in sport volunteering
Our Partners 🌟
Thank you to our sponsors and event collaborators for making today possible. Your support drives diversity and inclusion in sport, helping create safer, more welcoming environments for all. Check out their websites for more information.
The Australian Sports Commission (ASC), as principal partners of DISA, offers a range of resources to support equity, diversity, and inclusion in sport. Visit their website to explore tools, guidance, and information designed to help sports and clubs create inclusive environments.
CMSport, as principal partners of DISA, supports sporting organisations in fostering diversity and inclusion. Their range of training, consulting services, and resources helps connect sport with multicultural communities, driving meaningful social change through inclusion.
Play by the Rules, as principal partners of DISA, offers comprehensive Member Protection Information Officer (MPIO) training to support safe, fair, and inclusive sport. Their free online course, paired with interactive workshops, equips MPIOs with the knowledge and skills to guide members through concerns and complaints with impartiality and care.
Pride in Sport, as principal partners of DISA, is dedicated to driving LGBTQ+ inclusion across all levels of Australian sport. Through tailored training, resources, and benchmarking tools, they support sporting organisations in creating safe and welcoming environments for LGBTQ+ athletes, staff, and fans.
The Australian Open (AO), as Gold Sponsor of the DISA Forum, demonstrates its commitment to diversity and inclusion through initiatives like All Abilities Day, Pride Day, and Evonne Goolagong Cawley Day. These celebrations highlight the importance of embracing and empowering all members of the sporting community.
VicHealth, as Silver Sponsor of the DISA Forum, is committed to advancing health equity and inclusion in sport. With a focus on reducing health inequities, VicHealth supports initiatives that empower communities to create fairer, healthier environments where everyone can thrive, both on and off the field.
NSW Office of Sport is proud to support the DISA Forum as a Bronze Sponsor, contributing to vital diversity and inclusion initiatives in sport.
Queensland Government proudly partners with the DISA Forum as a Bronze Sponsor, championing efforts to foster diversity and inclusion across sporting communities.
SportWest collaborates with the DISA Forum as an Event Collaborator, supporting impactful diversity and inclusion work in Western Australian sport.
Did you miss the 2024 Forum?
Explore the inspiring discussions from the 2024 DISA Forum, centred on intersectionality in sport. Hosted by Beau Newell, the event featured an incredible line-up of speakers, including Kate Jenkins AO, Maria Dimopoulos, Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Jacara Egan, Ahmed Kelly, Teuila Reid, Jessica Crofts, Radmila Dyson, and Shelley Ware.
The forum tackled topics like decolonising sport, breaking access barriers, and celebrating the power of inclusion. Don’t miss this opportunity to relive the impactful conversations shaping the future of diversity in sport. Watch the recording here. 🌟
Video Library
📨 Apply Now: Steering Group EOI
Join the DISA Steering Group and help shape the future of diversity and inclusion in Australian sport. We’re seeking expressions of interest from individuals with lived or professional experience, particularly in areas of disability, First Nations, but also open to all other D&I focus areas.
Share your expertise and passion to drive meaningful change! You can apply by submitting a cover letter and CV, or if that’s not your preference, we also welcome portfolios, links to your work, or even a simple email outlining your experience and interest. Our goal is to make the process as accessible and easy as possible for you.
Applications close at 9am AEDT Monday 10 February 2025.
Click the button below to start your application!
📝 Share Your Feedback
Your voice matters! We’d love to hear your thoughts on the 2025 DISA Forum—from the speakers and topics to the overall experience. Your feedback not only helps us improve and shape future forums to better meet your needs, but it also plays a powerful role in guiding DISA’s work as a whole.
By sharing your insights, you’re helping us refine our efforts to create meaningful change in diversity and inclusion across Australian sport. Every response makes a difference, ensuring our events and initiatives remain impactful and relevant.
Take just a few minutes to complete our survey.