Elly Desmarchelier
Disability Advocate, Speaker & Facilitator
As a fearless advocate, Elly Desmarchelier has earned a seat at decision-making tables that shape the lives of Australians with disability, including speaking at the Prime Minister’s 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit. Her passion, insight, and lived experience make Elly a powerful voice for change and an inspiring speaker for audiences seeking impact, inclusion, and meaningful action.
Quick Contact
Elly Desmarchelier is a disability advocate, keynote speaker, and event facilitator whose work exists at the crossroads of policy, lived experience, and movements that actually change things.
Born with Cerebral Palsy and diagnosed with ADHD, Autism, and CPTSD at 28, she spent nearly a decade working inside political systems – including the Office of the Prime Minister – before becoming one of Australia’s most recognised disability voices.
As National Spokesperson for the Defend Our NDIS campaign during the 2022 Federal Election, Elly made disability a top three election issue in Australia. In 2025, she represented Australia at COSP18 — speaking at the United Nations in New York.
She doesn’t do inspiration. She does evidence, argument, and the kind of honesty that changes rooms.
Topics
Nothing About Us Without Us
Disability-led decision-making in policy and practice
Why tokenism fails — and what genuine inclusion looks like in practice. Drawing on a decade inside political systems, Elly shows the structural difference between consulting disabled people and being led by them. Audiences leave with a clear, actionable framework they can apply immediately.
The Body Politic
Disability pride, identity, and the personal as political
A keynote that refuses to separate lived experience from systemic analysis. Elly makes the personal political — and the political personal — in a way that challenges audiences to rethink what disability identity means in workplaces, communities, and public life.
Accessible By Design
Why inclusion as afterthought always fails — and what to do instead
Accessibility isn’t a compliance checkbox. It’s a design principle that makes everything better for everyone. Elly makes the business and human case for building inclusion from the start — with specific, actionable steps for organisations at any stage.
When the Room Isn’t Built For You
Disability, queerness, gender — navigating intersecting systems
For organisations working across multiple equity dimensions, this keynote maps the intersections honestly — where systems compound disadvantage, and where genuine inclusion at one axis enables it at others.
Campaigning for Change
How we made disability a top-3 election issue in 2022 — and what it took
A masterclass in movement building from the inside. Elly takes audiences behind the scenes of one of Australia’s most successful disability rights campaigns — the strategy, the coalitions, and the moments that made it work. Available as keynote or extended workshop.
