In a terrible indictment on disability inclusion in leadership and governance roles, across Australia's 300 largest companies, not a single director openly identifies as living with disability. Zero. And it's been that way for years.

In this powerful episode of Community Matters, host Nicky Sloan sits down with Krystal Tritton, CEO of disability provider roundsquared, who describes this as “a horrible statistic, that has gone unchecked for so long”.

As a busy executive who is totally blind Krystal brings a critically important perspective of lived experience to this significant issue of representation. Krystal and Nicky unpack why disability representation is unseen or non-existent at the highest levels of Australian leadership, and just what that is costing us all.

The employment gap tells the story with only 53% of people with disability employed compared to 82% without. This is a chasm that hasn't budged significantly in two decades, despite billions in government funding. The issue isn't ability; it's a society that frames disability through a lens of inability rather than possibility. As Krystal explains the social model of disability isn't about charity, it's about valuing difference, recognising strengths, enabling leadership, and designing systems that work for everyone.

Krystal explains the tyranny of low expectations and how, by expecting more of people with disability, they will show you what they are capable of and do more. Krystal reveals an important truth about the valuable difference that disability brings. In terms of her own disability she explains “it is my superpower” a lesson she learned from her years in homelessness services where her blindness allowed her to remove unhelpful judgment and create connection to her clients in ways sighted colleagues just couldn't replicate.

“Our disability isn’t our identity. It’s part of us but it’s not who we are” explains Krystal. Having worked in the sector for 23 years, she explains that while the community sector is making inroads to disability representation at leadership levels, this is not happening in the corporate sector. “I would like to see people sitting at the board of Macquarie Bank, Coles, Woolies, Myers” she says as she explains how these companies are missing out on the representation of a huge cross section of their customer base.

The ripple effects are profound. When a member of their advocacy group told Krystal, "Because you're a CEO, I see that I could be too," it clarified the power of representation. But that's exactly what's missing from Australia's ASX 300 boardrooms, leading to retailers designing inaccessible stores or tech companies designing solutions that don't work for everyone.

At roundsquared, Krystal and her team are rewriting the rules with 40% of their staff having lived experience of disability, they shape jobs around people, not the other way around. “It’s such a beautiful place to work” says Krystal as she explains how their board and peer advocacy group are led by people with disability.

Krystal's call to action is clear: set standards for employers for disability representation and inclusion with real jobs at real wages, embed a standard of experiential disability education as part of every higher education course engaging and paying people with disability to deliver, ask people with disability what they need and actually listen, and partner and recognise organisations doing it right.

This conversation will challenge everything you thought you knew about disability and leadership. Australia’s boardrooms are missing out and it’s time they caught up.

Links and Resources:

• 2025 AICD Board Diversity Index: https://www.aicd.com.au/about-aicd/governance-and-policy-leadership/board-diversity/2025-board-diversity-index.html

• roundsquared website: https://www.roundsquared.net.au/