Our Team

disability is diverse. and so are we.

Our team is made up of passionate consultants who bring a wide range of disability lived experience to every gig.

We are experts in best practice proven solutions for raising the bar on access and inclusion. Together, we deliver work that is grounded in community insight and real-world understanding. 

Intersectional diversity is our jam. It gives us the ability to approach challenges from multiple perspectives and offer solutions that are practical, nuanced, and inclusive. 

We know that disability is as unique as every person. That’s why our approach is adaptable, community-driven, and deeply respectful of each person’s story. We lead with empathy and integrity, together.

Michelle teear

Disability Consulting Lead
Learn More about Michelle
Image description: David Belcher smiling in front of lavendar bushes

David Belcher

Senior Lived Experience Consultant
Learn More about David
Image description: Katherine Mahony smiling in front of lavendar bushes

Cath Mahony

Senior Lived Experience Consultant
Learn More about Cath
Image description: Melanie Schlaeger smiling in front of lavendar bushes

Melanie Schlaeger

Lived Experience Consultant
Learn More about Melanie
Image description: Suzy Trindall smiling and posing in front of lavendar bushes

Suzy Trindall

Lived Experience Consultant
Learn More about Suzy
Image description: Catherine Caine smiling in front of lavendar bushes

Catherine Caine

Lived Experience Consultant
Learn More about Catherine
Image description: Shaylie Pryer smiling and posing in front of lavendar bushes

Shaylie Pryer

Lived Experience Consultant
Learn More about Shaylie
Image description: Bryson Douglas smiling and posing in front of lavendar bushes

Bryson Douglas

Lived Experience Consultant
Learn More about Bryson
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David Belcher

Senior Lived Experience Consultant

Dave Belcher is an experienced Development Officer and a leading disability inclusion consultant, renowned for his dedication to social justice and fostering an inclusive society.

Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government from the University of New England, and uses a wheelchair for mobility.

Dave’s consulting work focuses on helping organisations and communities embrace and implement inclusive practices that benefit individuals with disability. He provides training on best practices for disability inclusion, assisting organisations in creating accessible environments and developing policies that support full participation. His workshops and training sessions are known for their practical insights and actionable strategies, empowering leaders and teams to foster a more inclusive culture.

In addition to his consulting work, Dave has played a key role in numerous political campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels, including his work as a Counsellor at Lake Macquarie Council. His strategic expertise in campaign management, grassroots organising, and policy development has been instrumental in advancing candidates who prioritise equity and inclusion.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Dave is deeply committed to social justice. He actively engages with communities to raise awareness about the importance of accessibility and the value of diversity. His efforts have led to meaningful changes in policies and practices, promoting greater inclusivity across various sectors.

Dave Belcher’s dedication to creating an inclusive society, combined with his strategic consulting and campaign experience, makes him a respected and influential figure in the field of disability inclusion and social justice.

Cath Mahony

Senior Lived Experience Consultant

Cath Mahony is a committed and established disability advocate, having been an integral founding member in the establishment of the Community Disability Alliance Hunter (CDAH).

Through her involvement with countless community based actions, Cath has developed a passion for training and educating the broader community to enable greater collaboration with people living with disability. Her goal in doing so is ensuring that people with disability are contributing members of their communities and that inclusion isn’t tokenistic.

Cath has taken the skills she has developed through not only time with CDAH, but her lived experience as someone with disability, to help develop and implement the DisCo training packages.

Born blind, Cath believes that sharing her lived experience and using the lessons she has learned through her life as a means to educate is an essential ingredient in bringing about social change. Knowing another person’s story means knowing their struggles and their triumphs and opens people’s eyes to what it takes to achieve true accessibility.

Cath firmly believes that being accessible and accepting isn’t nearly as complicated as people may think; it takes intentionality and effort but it isn’t an insurmountable task.

Communications, disability and inclusion are deep-seated beliefs and passions for Cath, which she combines in her work as one of our Senior Lived Experience Consultant.

Cath also has a background in providing training and education in a number of different sectors including schools, community groups, and government and corporate sectors. She also holds a Cert IV in Training and Assessment.

She has also previously completed a communications degree and the Regional Story Tellers Scholarship with the ABC. There she produced a five-part radio series on the relationship between people with disability and support workers.

She has also previously completed a commaOutside of work, Cath is an avid singer having been a part of choirs for most of her life. This included time with the Waratah’s Girls Choir. 

Despite this, Cath describes herself as a terrible karaoke singer who only knows songs you hear at funerals or weddings.

Melanie Schlaeger

Lived Experience Consultant

Melanie Schlaeger is a passionate and experienced disability advocate and the current events coordinator with Community Disability Alliance Hunter and DisCo lived experience consultant.

Melanie has also been a facilitator for the Council for Intellectual Disability, provided mental health mentoring for people living with schizophrenia, and has run training around disability and inclusion with a number of organisations in the past.

Having worked in the disability sector since her early 20s, Melanie brings with her not only a wealth of experience, but a lifelong passion for helping and educating children with disability.

One of Melanie’s core driving goals is positively influencing the education sector and helping make the world more accessible. Her work with DisCo is an extension of her beliefs, ensuring that employment for people isn’t tokenistic, but something that should be integrated into mainstream society due to the fundamental value it provides.

Amongst her extensive volunteer work, she previously participated in a reading program with children from lower socio-economic backgrounds with The Smith Family. Her work with Playgroups NSW focuses on facilitating a program for children with special needs up to 5 years old.

Melanie sees her own personal and professional triumphs as not hers alone, but the entire disability community’s. As she becomes more confident and assertive in her own life, she hopes to help others achieve the same thing.

As a lived experience consultant, Melanie provides in-depth insights into how an organisation can not only provide the tangible tools for disability inclusivity, but also the cultural and institutional changes needed to create a truly inclusive environment.

Suzy Trindall

Lived Experience Consultant

Suzy Trindall is a proud Dharug and Gadigal woman, and has been a peer mentor, trainer and now the Peer Group Coordinator at Community Disability Alliance Hunter (CDAH).

Suzy has been involved in a number of Hunter based organisations including the First Nations Advisory Council, First Nations Strategy Working Group, and the Equity and Inclusion Reference Group, all with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), and previously worked with Vision Australia.
In 2016, Suzy founded Women’s First, an ongoing Peer Group at CDAH which aims to give women with disability a forum to discuss and advocate for the issues that matter to them most.

Mentorship is a passion of Suzy’s, always reminding her peers of the value of remaining humble, open and accepting.

During her time within CDAH, Suzy has grown into a strong and vocal leader and is always pushing peers to take any opportunities to do the same.

Suzy is always quick to remind people that she hasn’t arrived to the position she’s in by herself and credits the many strong Aboriginal Women and Peers she has met on her journey.

Whenever Suzy is given an opportunity, she does everything she can to bring those women along with her, always aiming to open doors for others the way they were opened for her.

Suzy is a strong advocate for intersectionality, describing it as messy and jumbled, but also a key element of everyone. She believes that people should always be considered in their entirety. You’re never just a person with a disability, you’re never just Aboriginal, and you’re never just a woman.

Through DisCo, Suzy hopes to use the educational and leadership skills she has gained over the years to help foster a more accepting and accessible world.

As someone who is a member of three separate marginalised groups, she can provide unique insights into a wide variety of issues facing these communities.

Suzy is an ardent supporter and advocate for accessibility and is heavily involved in assisting women leaving domestic violence. She has also worked with the NSW Government through the Education Centre Against Violence and Family Planning NSW.

In 2013 Suzy won the Tafe NSW Gili Award for Trainee of the Year. When she isn’t working she enjoys swimming, reading, animals and spending time with family.

Catherine Caine

Lived Experience Consultant

Catherine Caine is an experienced business consultant, and strong disability advocate who has held a variety of roles across public and private sector organisations including Medicare, banking, IT, universities, hospitals and council.

Catherine thrives on the constant challenge of adapting into new environments; and has extensive skills for building, adapting and evaluating systems. Catherine has previously run her own successful business, delivering online marketing strategy, business development, naming services and products. Catherine worked closely with her clients to ensure that their offerings were highlighted effectively.

Catherine has used her consulting skills to navigate complex systems including the NDIS, which she has used to mentor others to access the scheme. She is currently President of the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, a nation-wide, grassroots organisation of volunteers who support each other in navigating income support.

Catherine’s pacing, prioritisation and efficiency have combined to create a consultant who is capable of delivering actionable simplicity out of multivariate complexity.

Catherine loves to sing, learn anything new, and bribe the local magpies into being her friends.

Shaylie Pryer

Lived Experience Consultant

Shaylie is a passionate Lived Experience Consultant, fierce community organiser and strong disability advocate. A published Author and Researcher, Shaylie is a current Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) student, and researcher with the University of Newcastle.

Shaylie is also heavily involved with the Hunter Community Alliance (HCA), working within Community Organising to bring the Hunter community together for the common good.

Shaylie has worked across a number of organisations as an advocate, trainer and organiser. She previously held the role of Executive Officer with the HCA and has held multiple roles with CDAH including Coordinator and Lived Experience Researcher, Peer Worker, and Event Organiser.

Shaylie says she gravitates towards people and is a firm believer in the power of stories and lived experience. A person’s story and experience can’t be argued with, and Shaylie believes in harnessing those stories to create change and drive progress. Through this experience, Shaylie has become an expert communicator and relationship builder and has developed into an outspoken leader and advocate.

As a woman with disability, and the countless stories of others she’s heard and learned from, Shaylie possesses a wealth of knowledge that is instrumental in working towards true inclusivity. Shaylie understands the power of self-advocacy and helping others find their voices.

During her time with both CDAH and the HCA, Shaylie has been heavily involved in training and education. While with the HCA, she ran her own training module for future leaders in New Zealand which saw her travel around the country, educating others of the importance of community organising and the power of the collective community. 

Shaylie also played an integral part of the HCA’s founding assembly in 2024 which was attended by over 850 people from across the Hunter region. Shaylie coordinated a disability-led research team that published a paper on Peer Support in the Hunter, along with having her own research on disability, power and institutions being published in the British Journal of Social Science.

In her personal time Shaylie is a lover of photography, gaming and reading.

Bryson Douglas

Lived Experience Consultant

Bryson is a proud gay, trans, man with disability who has worked and volunteered within the queer and disabled communities for over a decade, and is one of our Lived Experience Consultants and is a member of the Peer Learning Hub at CDAH.

Bryson is an impassioned advocate for intersectionality and inclusivity, which is only natural given the inherent intersection between the queer and disability community. In 2022 38% of queer people in Australia reported that they had a disability, demonstrating the need for Lived Experience consultants in the community.

Bryson is co-leader of CDAH peer group Queer Peers, a member of the Disability and Inclusion Action Group with Hunter Writers Centre and has previously volunteered with a number of other organisations including the AIDS Council of NSW (ACON). Bryson also presented at the Together We Can Conference about the intersection of disability and queerness and was named 2015 Regional Youth Services Awards Young Person of the Year.

An articulate and informed advocate, Bryson is able to deliver information and in a way that is free of judgement, and presented in plain english, highlighting the need for inclusion.

Bryson played a vital role in the creation of DisCo, providing perspective and ideas during workshops and discussions in the development of DisCo, along with aiding in its build and launch.

As a member of the CDAH Learning Team, he has developed workshops and guided peers through the organisation. During his time with ACON, Bryson was a workshop facilitator in the young gay men’s health project, which was aimed at educating the community about sexual health. He also adapted and ran these workshops for young trans men.

Outside of volunteering Bryson is an avid writer and part-time stand up comic. He has written articles for Trans Day of Visibility, performed spoken word poetry and comedy at queer and disability community events.