Hannah and Tyra’s first ever work trip!

Northcott’s Community Researchers, Hannah and Tyra, recently travelled to Adelaide on their first ever trip for work. For the two young adults with disability, the trip was the first chance to meet their research colleagues – and have fun exploring a new city!

The research project

Hannah and Tyra are part of a research project led by Professor Sally Robinson from Flinders University. The project is aimed at understanding, responding to and preventing ‘everyday harms’ in the working relationships between young people with cognitive disability and their support workers. The project is looking at situations, such as being ignored or debased, that cause people with disability to feel humiliated, silenced or offended – referred to as ‘everyday harms’. 

In the project, Hannah and Tyra are working with Ruby and Rachel, Community Researchers from Flinders University. They are all providing their perspectives and experiences as young adults with intellectual disability, contributing to all aspects of the project from the research design to organising workshops and analysing the findings. They are helping to shape the research and make sure it is relevant and easy to understand by participants, who are also young people with intellectual disability.

About the trip to Adelaide

Hannah and Tyra travelled with Samantha and Emma from Northcott’s Research team. They met the local research team from Flinders University in Adelaide as well as colleagues who had travelled from Melbourne.

Over two nights and three days, the group held workshops to get to know each other, discuss the next steps in their research and plan for the year ahead.

The purpose of the trip was for us to finally all meet in person rather than on Teams.

Hannah

“We now know what to do in our monthly meetings, how to work well together and how to use our time wisely. We know what makes us click. We know the “vibe” and we learnt a lot about each other. It was very interesting.

“The workshops were very active. We were brainstorming ideas on what we can improve in our research, what to do next and also the next target audience.”

For Tyra, meeting her Adelaide colleagues was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the trip.

“I enjoyed the sightseeing, but I also enjoyed meeting Ruby and Rachel in person. We arrived and went straight to the uni and finally got to see Ruby and Rachel. We are always saying how it would be nice to meet them in person. Seeing them face-to-face was so different. We got to know them a bit better which was good,” Tyra said.

Hannah said the face-to-face workshops were much more engaging for her than meeting online. Holding the workshop in different locations, such as at the uni or an outdoor café helped Hannah to pay better attention.

Tyra said she also enjoyed the in-persons workshops and watching some of the team do role plays.

One role play was about a cafe and talking about everyday harms. I remember seeing how everyone has their own opinions. It was good to see that and hear all the different answers.

Tyra

Trip highlights and reflections

While work was the main purpose of the trip, there were also opportunities for the Northcott team to socialise at group meals and of course visit the sights of Adelaide.

Before the trip, Hannah, Tyra, Sam and Emma talked about what they would like to see and where they would like eat. Their itinerary included a visit to the famous Adelaide Central Market where Hannah was surprised to see so many stall holders embracing a plastic-free approach. Walking around the Botanic Gardens and visiting the chocolate factory were other highlights.

“The trip was exciting because I’ve never been to Adelaide. It was different because it was work, but I love adventure and exploring,” said Tyra, who took lots of photos of the buildings and statues around the city.

“I did have a lot of fun and I definitely hope we might be able to do another trip – maybe a little longer. It was really fun and I would like to see Ruby and Rachel again.”

Hannah is also looking forward to future trips for work and pleasure. “It was a very great experience seeing another state…I’m thinking about next year’s workshop and if we can go back to Adelaide or maybe even Melbourne. If not, we invited the group to Sydney so we can show them around,” she said.

Northcott is committed to creating a disability confident culture. We want to promote a culture of inclusion and demonstrate that the workplace is inclusive, accessible and safe, supporting everyone to reach their full potential. If you’re a person with disability looking to work in the disability sector, find out more on our careers page below.

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