Here is a quick Enabled.vip update - Using some small grants, personal contributions and loans, the coding of the platform is complete.  This includes the joining process and the various service sections of the platform. It has been a long, sometimes difficult journey, but it is exciting to be at this point. As of yesterday, we have commenced user testing...

If you are hearing impaired or live with hearing challenges, HUZZAH! to you, yesterday was your day. Perhaps you don't consider yourself to be living with a disability.  Perhaps your toughest challenge is dealing with the exclusionary behaviour of others. We'd be thrilled to work with you to pursue your entrepreneurial goals and potential...

Establishing a positive organizational culture, one in which employees and managers support one another, should be a top priority for organizations. Expressing praise and gratitude is particularly important for keeping up morale. Gratitude makes people feel valued, and positive feedback has been shown to mitigate the negative effects of stress on employee performance. Neuroscientists have even shown that the brain processes verbal affirmations similarly to financial rewards. As Alan Mulally, former CEO of Ford, has been quoted as saying of his employees, “It’s all about appreciating them, respecting them and thanking them at every step of the way.” While the importance of expressing praise and gratitude for establishing a positive organizational culture is clear, our research suggests that people may not follow Mulally’s advice because they underestimate the positive impact of kind words on others.

We finished yesterday, the drafting of the Discussion Sheet about the management of invoices (inward and outward). This is part of the series of sheets for all members of the platform.  It will be available in the Resource Library and be part of the in-house resources that our members can access/download whenever they need. Combined with the mentoring, peer support, webinars, blog/newsletter and the training opportunities, our hope is the platform will support members to pursue their entrepreneurial potential...

This week we have booked a videographer to film our Patron, Dinesh Palipana.  The recordings will be of Dinesh talking about the importance of disability entrepreneurship and why he is excited to be involved with Enabled.vip. These recordings will be used in the upcoming webinar MS Queensland is hosting about the platform...

On Friday, Gary met with the CEO of MS Queensland (David Curd) and their Community Engagement Manager (Natalie Walsh).  Amongst the topics discussed was the current state of Enabled.vip, future plans and how the platform could fit in with the strategic plans/objectives of MS Queensland.  It was a thoroughly energising and constructive discussion. It also provided useful ideas for how the platform could connect with some other like-minded entities...

Recently we met with Mr Dwayne Fernandes, from Minds at Play, to discuss the overlaps between Minds at Play and the Enabled.vip platform. Dwayne is a thoroughly impressive and nice guy. We not only hope to keep in touch with him, we think he would be a terrific speaker at one of our webinars. The plan is that we will conduct one webinar every month, inviting different speakers to talk about their endeavours, ideas and approaches. The intention here is that these events will be inspiring, useful and excellent food for thought for members...

How can dogs help people living with disability find work? A quick trip to Clear Paws Dog Salon is the place to find out. Chris, Pat and Mitch took Kia Handley through the salon introducing them to some very cute customers! The webpage includes a streaming link to listen to the programme.

We are currently working on the discussion sheets for the members' Resource Library. Community of Practice Invoice management These are resource documents to assist our members to establish and operate an enterprise....

Fiverr is currently conducting a competition in Australia for a small business to win space on a new billboard.  Needless to say, we have entered Enabled.vip into the competition.  Listing on a billboard would be a great way to promote the platform to the three audiences we are hoping to reach...

[Post extract]Here, we aim to share insights from a group of Griffith University researchers and a consumer reference group, who worked together on a research project during the development of materials and methods, as well as in the dissemination of research outcomes. The research project we conducted aimed to explore the research experience of people with acquired disability. We wanted to understand what researchers could do better to be more inclusive of people who are often described as vulnerable or marginalised by the National Statement and subsequently Human Research Ethics Committees. We wanted to know how to best include them as participants in, rather than subjects of, research.[/Post extract] Enabled.vip's CEO Dr Gary Allen co-authored this post about effective reference groups in disability research.

We are thrilled to report the platform is listed on the great DLI Business Directory. It can be found at https://disabilityleaders.com.au/business-directory/1406/enabled-vip/ and can be viewed by the public. This is a great way to lift the profile of the platform in the disability sector.

[NEWS SNIPPET] Dozens of major health, corporate, sporting and charity Facebook pages have been blocked after being caught up in the social media giant’s decision to ban news publishers in response to the Morrison government’s proposed media bargaining laws. [/NEWS] What is forgotten in all the posturing between the politicians, the Murdoch press and big tech, is the harm caused to Australians who live with a disability and people living with a chronic medical condition. We are not footballs in their silly games...

This week the platform became a formal member of the Queensland Social Enterprise Council.  This provides us with access to news, resources, professional development opportunities and a say in matters relating to the Queensland social enterprise space.  In addition to the impressive membership certificate, it provides further credibility and standing for the platform.

Monday morning, Gary is meeting with a team from the Queensland Department of Small Business to talk about Enabled.vip.  This is in the context of the Queensland Government's announced support for social enterprise. While we are going into this with obvious hopes, we recognise that we are only one of Queensland's many social enterprises. That being said, we hope you'll forgive us for thinking that we've got a very strong story to tell about the value of the platform...

The interview by the Dignity Project is now live. Gary spoke about the Enabled.vip platform, the pilot, disability entrepreneurship and dignity. It has been estimated that 4.4 million Australians live with disability, 2.1 million of whom are of working age (Australian Network on Disability 2020). However, research by the Productivity Commission has found that people with disability are among the most disadvantaged in Australia (Productivity Commission 2011), with low participation rates resulting in reduced income. The full interview is available from the Dignity Project website.  You will need to join the Dignity Project to view the interview.  We highly recommend all of our followers join the Dignity Project anyway.  Their work is commendable and worth supporting...

We are delighted to report that we were successful with our Pine Rivers/Bendigo Bank community fund grant application.  It is a sign of the times, that they had a plethora of applications. We understand there were a lot of worthy applications and a few applicants would have been disappointed. As a consequence, the money awarded was a bit less than we hoped. It does mean we are still on the furious hunt for funding, but we are incredibly grateful for the support the scheme has awarded us. Depite the fact that we're still scratching for money, we have decided to press on with the pilot test. Thank you everyone for your generous and enthusiastic support...

We have slightly tweaked the header for our popular YouTube channel. We have also given the scripts for four more videos to our talented animators. Now all we need is the money to pay for them.

In exciting news, we just had a new person sign up as a pilot tester of the programme. We are incredibly excited to have a new pilot tester onboard. The plan still is to participate in the MS Queensland webinar on 17 March at 10 am. In addition to allowing us to test our systems and processes, the pilot test will allow us to explore some of our suppositions (e.g. how things will split between hobbies/crafts, gig-based micro-business or a small business)...

Gary has updated his signature block for emails to include DLI after his name (as text and a link) and the image plus link for the platform's YouTube channel.  It's a small change, but given how much Gary emails, we figure it can't hurt. 

Distress, anxiety, work avoidance, lowered productivity, and taking more sick days: Workplace bullying and discrimination can have a significant impact on employees' mental health. Some victims can even experience trauma that lasts well beyond the job itself, according to north Brisbane-based psychologist Rachel Hannam. We asked Dr Hannam and two other experts how to move on after experiencing bullying or discrimination in a previous role...

This week, Gary was interviewed for a piece for the Dignity Project.  It was a chance to talk about the early beginnings of the Enabled.vip platform. It was also a chance to discuss the important role disability entrepreneurship can play in dignity, social inclusion and community participation.  Gary couldn't help but slip in a joke about world domination. Back in your box Gary...

Today, we are meeting with Pete Horsley of Remarkable to talk about the Enabled.vip platform. If you don't know them, Remarkable (https://remarkable.org.au/) is associated with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and is doing exciting things in the disability tech space. We are really looking forward to exploring whether there are opportunities for the two platforms to collaborate...

The Super Enablers and the platform walked into a bar...  No seriously, great behind the scenes news about funding and the Enabled.vip platform. The Super Enablers team is working on an Ian Potter grant application for the platform.  This is a big deal because in addition to tidying up the deployment costs and first year operation costs, this grant would fund a few good purchase items for the platform. Such as buying out some of Dr Gary Allen's time from Griffith University and establishing a budget for work items that will be undertaken by the Company Secretary...

It is terrific to see such a significant global investment by the private sector into disability services.  And yes we have sent them an expression of interest to see if they would be prepared to look at a grant application from Enabled.vip.

Last week we worked with MS Queensland to finalise a press release about a number of news items concerning the platform. Once the release has been sent to the media, we will share it here. We are pretty excited about this continued progress towards the pilot launch of the platform...

Gary has recently joined the Disability Leadership Institute. It is a great way to network with other disability leaders, hear news and share great tips.  The DLI is a worthwhile group for anyone interested in advocacy, entrepreneurship and related skills.  The Institute offers free and cost-effective professional development to its members...

Yesterday, we had a nice surprise when $2,000 unexpectedly turned up in the platform's bank account. While we haven't been officially notified, we have worked out this a payment for the Moreton Council Discretion fund, thank to Gary's local councillor, Darren Grimwade. It is only a small grant, but it's 40% of the cost of Griffith University developing the micro-courses for our members or 40% of Griffith conducting coaching for our mentors...

Springer Nature is retracting a book chapter describing conference research after scholars in the deaf community blasted it for being “unbelievably insulting.” The chapter, “Implementation of Hand Gesture Recognition System To Aid Deaf-Dumb People,” appeared in Advances in Signal and Data Procesing: Select Proceedings of ICSDP 2019. The authors were  Supriya Ghule and Mrunalini Chavaan, of the MIT Academy of Engineering in Pune, India. According to the abstract...

Griffith University hosts and supports a group called the Super Enablers. It isn't just focussed on Enabled.vip, but we are certainly a big part of the focus of that group. The committee is chaired by entrepreneurship researcher and platform board-member, Assoc. Prof. Naomi Birdthistle. The membership of the committee includes business people who live with a disability and researchers/academics...

Our Patron, Dinesh Palipana OAM has suggested some great commercial contacts. Later this week and in the coming weeks, Gary will be meeting with those contacts. We go into this with an open mind. There are some useful things these contacts can help us with, but we are very interested to hear their ideas. We will report back as soon as we have some news.

The terrific artist Gary has been working with on a couple of Enabled.vip and AHRECS jobs, has produced a nice image for the header of our YouTube channel.  The image works across platforms, so should be good, regardless of whether you look at it on a smartphone or a smart TV.  We love the style of his work and will use him for future projects for the platform...

A sobering summary about disability, income and entrepreneurship in Australia. This information captures perfectly the factors that inspired us to work on setting up Enabled.vip. This includes some surprising numbers, as well as the source where we found them...

We have produced a one-page executive summary of where things are at with the development of the platform. Included in the document is a summary of: (i) Objectives; (ii) Types of disability enterprises...

Yesterday, we drafted the Company policy with regard to disability rights and safety. The intent is this policy will inform the actions of staff, office bearers and volunteers concerning observed or suspected abuse, neglect and/or exploitation. An absolute commitment to adhering to the state, national and international standards with regard to disability rights and safety are founding principle of Enabled.vip Pty Ltd. Again, while formulating this policy is part of the process of registering the platform with the NDIA, it is also a vital operational standard to inform our practice, professional development and planning.

Gary took another couple of long shots yesterday, by applying for funding from: (i) Draper Richard Kaplan Foundation Fund; and (ii) The English Family Foundation. Both of these prospects are pretty unlikely, but we figure it can't hurt to try. 

Every quarter, we will be sending a newsletter to members via email. The title of this publication will be 'Tilting at Blazing Windmills'.  The Quitoxic title owes much to Gary's affinity to the Don Quixote story, as well as its links to the excellent Sorkin series The Newsroom.  We commissioned the masthead through a Fiverr Pro. We are delighted with what he came up with. We would value your thoughts as well. 

We are excited to report the platform now has a YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYFLsgR68zExvDHoO-Q3uQA.  Have a look and let us know what you think.  If you like it, please subscribe and let your network know. Our plan is that we will progressively add new videos to this channel...

Justin Yerbury's appeal prompts Australia's NHMRC to revise its policy. Structural discrimination is real and cannot be tolerated.  Apart from its intrinsic interest, it is relevant to PPI initiatives that draw in people with disabilities as partners. If we can't avoid discriminating against high achieving researchers with disabilities, how can we avoid either such discrimination or tokenism in PPI...

We are excited to share that on 17 March 2021 (at 10-11am) MS Queensland will be hosting a webinar about Enabled.vip. The purpose of the webinar is to explain how the platform will work and how it can assist participants. Our hope is the event will enable us to identify and recruit ten pilot testers. The pilot testers will not need to pay for their involvement in the platform during the test...

We are thrilled to share the news that Megan Peach has joined the Enabled.vip team. She will serve on the Board as Company Secretary. Megan brings with her considerable governance and board experience. Amongst other things, we are hoping she will help us refine our policies and procedures. We also hope she will help us pursue NDIA registration...

This one introduces the kind of help we will be offering to Australians who live with a disability and the kind of services we will provide. We think the animator did a great job, we hope you agree. We are pondering having the same female voiceover professional do the speaking for this video. We would welcome hearing your input.

We hope to hear in the next 30 days the outcome of three items of funding that we are pursuing. Two of them are reasonably ambitious, so we are definitely not counting our chickens. Of course, if they do come through that would be our funding needs for 12 months met...

We reported previously, we hoped to use 'Gabriel's Oboe' as the backing track for our future animations. The logistics and costs of getting permission to produce a cover of that track are really too much for us to justify. As a consequence, we will use similar backing tracks to the one that we used for our first animation. While this is pretty disappointing, we think it's important that our energies and meagre funding be focussed upon the development of the platform...

We are excited to report that over the weekend we received our first Expression of Interest from a potential member of the platform. The fact that we've received this EOI before we've actually advertised, is pretty thrilling. If you know a Queenslander who lives with a disability who may be interested in Enabled.vip, ask them to email [email protected] to express their interest....

Yesterday, Gary signed off on drafts produced by our artist and animator. This included: (i) The animation that will serve as an ad for our YouTube. (ii) The masthead for the 'Tilting at blazing windmills'~. (iii) The animation about the areas of work and the type of service the platform will cater for...

Recently we completed three more governance policies: 1. Partnerships 2. Minimising abuse and harm 3. Promoting positive behaviour None of these are especially exciting, but it is great to see our governance arrangements coming into place...

Further to our previous post, our animator has provided us with a set of twelve icons for the platform. These will be used for the three animations currently under development, as well as in our upcoming infographics and across our website. The website changes will be made at the same time we post the animations.

Yesterday, we drafted our finance plan.  This covered: 1. Billing for services; 2. Overhead saving and use; 3. Honoraria for office-bearers; 4. The purchasing plan; 5. Authorisations; and 6. Reporting and auditing...

Through Fiverr, we commissioned a professional to produce a marketing/brand plan for the platform. This covered the three audiences that we will need to connect with: 1. Australians who live with a disability who want to pursue their entrepreneurial potential and ideas; 2. Experienced business people and other practitioners who are potential mentors; and 3. Businesses and consumers who might use the platform's virtual marketplace (The BAZAAR) to locate services offered by Australians who live with a disability...

As part of the work by our animators, for the next three animations, they have been producing a collection of icons. The icons relate to our areas of practice and the sections and services of the platform. They have been doing a great job. For example, pictured here is the icon relating to Monetising a Hobby/Craft. These images will appear in the animations, but will also be included in the infographics that are currently being produced for us and will be used on the website...

In the last few days we have drafted the following policies: 1 Our risk register, 2 Our privacy policy, and 3 Continuous improvement policy This is progress towards hopefully registering Enabled.vip with the NDIA.

Over the last few days we have made real progress with: (i) the next three  animations (deposit paid, script settled and persuing soundtrack); (ii) graphic work commenced; (iii) preparations towards infographics commenced. All of which is pretty exciting and we are looking forward to seeing work on a couple of professional creatives...

A bit of a departure for a news item today.  We felt this news story from academia worth sharing.  It relates to ableism and racism our two pet hates, the scientific lie of eugenics and a long-overdue bit of corrective action by a major UK college Links to early eugenicists such as Francis Galton a source of ‘deep regret’ to institution University College London has expressed “deep regret” for its role in the propagation of eugenics, alongside a promise to improve conditions for disabled staff and students and a pledge to give “greater prominence” to teaching the malign legacy of the discredited movement. The formal apology for legitimising eugenics – the advocacy of selective breeding of the population often to further racist or discriminatory aims – is UCL’s latest effort to address its links to early eugenicists such as Francis Galton, who funded a professorship in eugenics at the university.

We are thrilled to share the news that the 2021 Queenslander of the year, Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM has agreed to become the Patron of Enabled.vip. Dinesh is a great role model for people who live with a disability and a great advocate for us all. He brings a lot of enthusiasm and ideas to the role and we are delighted to be working with him...

We plan to use a cover of Gabrielle's Oboe as the backing track of future animations for the platform.  If you haven't watched the Eighties movie, The Mission, it is well worth a watch. This track perfectly captures the message of hopeful toil towards a better place.

We have been busily setting up connections between the platform and Griffith University. A PhD candidate based in THC is working with us. We are catching up with her next week to agree on some work projects. In practice, this is likely to be a combination of study time plus research assistant time. We are also, as part of our connection with the Griffith Business School, will be hosting some undergraduate students as part of the Work Integrated Learning programme. Again we'll need to settle on the exact projects they will be working on...

Yesterday, Gary had a great video chat with a  consultant working with RISE. If you don't already know about them, RISE puts experts in touch with social enterprises, so as to provides pro bono expert advice on matters such as legal matters, marketing and data security. Such adice would be extremely helpful, so we are excited b y this connection.

Yesterday, we drafted a short policy and a form for serious incidence.  This includes defining whether individual incidents are serious. Having this in place is another necessary and important requirement for NDIA registration.

Gary and Gerard met yesterday and discussed grant applications under review, what to do if none of them are successful, pressing ahead with the pilot test and our great connections with Griffith University.

Here's to 2021 being better than 2020. Gary, Gerard, the Board and volunteers wish you a safe, healthy, more prosperous, enriching and successful new year.  We wish you every success in your endeavours. We are on track for conducting a pilot test with 10 Queenslanders soon and we hope this year will be great for Enabled...

Yesterday, we received quotes for the next 3 animations. These include: (i) Short clip to introduce our YouTube video channel; (ii) A clip covering the services that will be provided on the platform; and (iii) A clip about 'invisible' disabilities...

Yesterday was a very productive day. We: 1. Drafted our HR Policy, 2. Arranged a meeting with RISE to discuss Enabled.vip pro bono needs, 3. Downloaded 10 more images for our great image library, and 4. Fixed some small mistakes/omissions from the Enabled.vip website...

(Apologies for the title, we just couldn't resist). Yesterday Gary sent off an enquiry about the Queensland government's announced amazing investment in social enterprises. BTW we think it's a great idea to invest public money in this area, even if we're not eligible. Of course, we hope we are. If your state member is in the ALP, please let them know about us. Gary also lodged an application for pro bono support from RISE Program. Even though we are looking for sources of financial support, the expertise that could be accessed by this programme could be excellent for us setting up...

Drafted yesterday was our short policy on qualifications and experience. Important defining characteristics of Enabled.vip are: It is designed and operated by people who know business and know disability in Australia; We combine academic and business smarts; We have embedded research in our operation; Our Mentors know business and know disability in Australia; and These principles are reflected in the composition of the Board...

Yesterday, we confirmed a number of items for posting to the site.  These all fell within the following categories: * Resources that can be used by members in their endeavours (such as tips and templates) * News and views * Academic papers * Lifestyle stuff (anything esoteric we think might be helpful/interesting) Our plan is, once we commence the pilot with 10 Queenslanders, one new item will be posted every day.

We are continuing to draft the operational and strategic policies we need for registration with the NDIA.  That registration would make our operation possible and easier with regard to the three different kinds of plans. 1) Agency managed. 2) Plan managed. 3) Self-managed. The two policies we have recently produced are: (i) Vision, Mission and Values Statement (ii) Police and working with Children’s checks evidence...

We need to make contingency plans, just in case none of our grant applications are successful. It is an awful and bewildering prospect, but we need a contingency plan, just in case.  We are absolutely certain of the positive impact this platform could have on the lives of Australians who live with a disability. We keep being told how innovative and positive the Enabled.vip idea is, so we take hope that we are not deluding ourselves with our conviction.

Like Star Wars characters on an ill-conceived raid (hey a lot of us were nerds in the Seventies, Eighties and now really), we have realised there was a stupid error in our DSS application. One part of our application asked for funding in an area not permitted by the grant rules. When Gary asked for our application to be amended, were politely but firmly told that it was not possible to amend our application at this stage.

Yesterday, we sent the scripts for three animations to our great animators. We are now in discussions clarifying what we're after. After the silly season, we expect to get quotes for the work. Obviously, we will need development money for that work. So a (perhaps unrealistic) hope is that we will be able to use grant money to develop those animations.  We have a large grant application under review, the one we mentioned recently. So please everyone, positive thoughts over the holidays.

Unfortunately yesterday we learnt our application for a Logan City Community Fund grant was unsuccessful. We also learnt my Federal MP wrote a letter of support for our application to the Department of Social Security. It is a big grant, but here's hoping. Fingers crossed.

Yesterday, Gary drafted some text for a notice to potential pilot testers for the platform. If you know someone that lives with a disability, who might be interested in Enabled.vip, please ask them to have a look at our site and if they're interested, for them to send an email to [email protected] Enabled.vip is a virtual incubator for Australians who live with a disability to: (i) Monetise a hobby/craft; (ii) Establish a gig-based micro business; or (iii) Establish a hobby. The platform will support members with a combination of: (a) Mentoring, (b) An online Resource Library (including links to custom sheets), (c) An internal discussion forum (a peer support forum), (d) Webinars and online events, and (e) An online marketplace (linked through to Fiverr) to promote their services.

We have been receiving some great feedback on our first video, which is lovely.  We think it's great too! Today, we have posted copies of the video to our social media pages - LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. We have also posted it to our GoFundMe page - https://www.gofundme.com/f/an-incubator-for-disabled-australians. We have emailed scripts for the next three videos to our animator so he can price the work.  We'll need to secure some more development money before we can proceed with that...

This week we finished work on the discussion sheet about creative commons. Next we are moving on to working on a sheet about the valuable role of community of practice and the role we can all play in promoting good practice. The sheet will include handy tips on how you can use your hobby/craft, gigster of business skills to foster a community of practice, this will draw from Dr Gary Allen's experience that turned a side-hustle into a multi-national company - https://www.ahrecs.com...

This week Gary was invited to submit an Expression of Interest for a community fund operated by Bendigo Bank.  The application is in. We are not sure of the turnaround time, given the time of year. But we are excited to be invited to make a submission.  Bendigo Bank has got a great reputation for supporting community activities...

We are thrilled to share this, the first animation we have commissioned.  It dramatically communicate the thing behind our logo and mission.

First of all, the positive.  This morning Gary signed off on the penultimate design of the animation.  It is looking great.  Hopefully, we will be able to show it to you soon. In less positive news, Logan City Council have advised we are not eligible for a Community Fund Grant and so our application was unsuccessful.  While we are pursuing that* this isn't promising and a huge letdown...

Yesterday, Gary exchanged emails with the great team at Mindhive about ways the two platforms could collaborate. Gary also listed a profile in StartSomeGood, which is a platform to profile endeavours to hopefully attract recurrent financial support. All exciting stuff!

In the last few days, Gary selected a royalty-free clip of music to play with our new animation. Gary also reached out to a copyright holder for a piece of music he hopes to use with other videos (promotional/how-to). This is another step in the exciting journey towards us doing a pilot launch.

Thank you everyone who made a contribution to our GoFundMe page (https://www.gofundme.com/f/an-incubator-for-disabled-australians) for my 50th birthday! Every $10 contribution makes a huge difference to our efforts to set up Enabled.vip. Not only did they bring a big smile to my face for my birthday, they let me know how many people were enthusiastic to see the platform up and running. Thanks again!

Gary turns fifty today (yes this photo is 10 years out of date).  Thanks to Evan Willis (insert Welsh accent here), Gary's nickname at uni was pop's (at the time he was 20), so he has finally grown into that nom de plume. Do you know Gary and want to wish him many happy returns?  Or do you like the not for profit he's been working on recently? Please consider pitching $10 (or whatever you can afford) into his GoFunde campaign - https://www.gofundme.com/f/an-incubator-for-disabled-australians.

This week we commissioned a phone greeting for Enabled.vip for use with our phone number. It's another small step but feels like part of the picture coming together for the launch of the platform. (Yes it is an Australian voice.)

Earlier this week, Gary remotely attended a meeting of the Logan Disability Coalition to talk about Enabled.vip, specifically our plan to conduct a pilot test with 10 Queenslanders. It was a great experience and a good chance to talk to people familiar with the needs of Queenslanders who live with a disability. The hope is this contact will generate interest from people who want to join the platform. We have also applied for a Logan City Community Grant. That money would assist with some setup costs.

Demonstrating either determination or just repeating failed behaviour believing there will be a different outcome this time (which some have suggested is a sign of insanity), Gary has lodged a third application for a Mable Community Grant. In his defence, we haven't received feedback from the last two attempts. This time though, we are trying different areas where we need funding. So please everyone, think good thoughts from now on.

Yesterday, Gary signed off on the design for the Ask the Tribe discussion board.  He also clarified its operation for our web developers. This board will only be accessible by members of Enabled.vip.  It could be used to ask and answer questions, to share information tips and encouragement.  We believe the peer support of The Tribe will be an important component of the platform. Our hope is to foster a community of practice amongst members.

It has been very satisfying assembling the platform and a lot of fun. It feels great to see that our work is now coming together for the pilot with 10 Queenslanders. This week we have...

We are delighted to share the news Naomi has joined the Board for the platform. Assoc. Prof. Birdthistle is an international researcher, with considerable experience in entrepreneur whip.  She has some great ideas for the platform and we are thrilled to have her in the team. We have already identified an exciting grant for us to pursue in the new year.