Harnessing lived experience to promote accessible employment journeys

This paper describes an Inclusive Employability initiative at Edith Cowan University (ECU) developed in 2024. The paper foregrounds the observations and reflections of Inclusive Employability Officers as they designed, developed and implemented the initiatives within the context of an Australian University. Over the past two decades Australian Universities have encouraged wider participation in higher education, though the resulting social mobility and economic benefit of higher education has not been evenly distributed, especially amongst cohorts with different socio-economic backgrounds and access requirements. The goal of the Inclusive Employability initiative was, and is, to support students from different equity cohorts, including people with disability and to develop their employment capabilities through access to tailored digital resources. This paper explores the holistic approach to inclusion and accessibility undertaken thus far, with a focus on the complex factors that influence the employment outcomes of people with lived experience of disability. The paper contends that inclusive practices such as co-design, led by content designers with lived experience of disability can generate authentic, personalised and digitally accessible experiences that support a range of complex employability contexts.