 Good morning It's such an honor to be here and to be speaking to so many people who can create change Instantly particularly around the domains that I'm going to be speaking about today education and fashion I Was four years old when I decided that I wanted to be a primary school teacher For anybody American in the room an elementary school teacher When I came home from my first day of school and told my parents that this is what I wanted to do They were incredibly supportive their immediate response was yes amazing Absolutely, I Went to my second day of school full of encouragement and could visualize myself at the top of the room being a teacher Despite the teacher not looking like me As an adult reflecting back on those first days of school I'm incredibly admirable of my parents complete sense of confidence in what I could be and become because that happened in 1994 an Ireland the country in which I live ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2018 and It wasn't until I was attending University that I realized that ambition that I had that I shared with my parents may be challenged Not by my own abilities, but by design and the world around me I remember sitting in a lecture and a colleague someone who was also studying education Turning to me and saying How are you gonna do it? And I said what? The assignment it'll take you 15 minutes hand it in you'll be fine She said no How are you gonna be a teacher? How are you going to control them? How are you going to work within the design of the classroom? It's not for you and Really, it wasn't until that moment that I realized it may not be possible if You can take yourself back to reflect on your own time in the classroom. Can you imagine my challenges? well, I Can't reach the blackboard The light switch is a challenge Hanging the artwork on the wall is incredibly difficult which if you remember from your childhood is is incredibly important But my biggest difficulty was much more immediate than that It's also a challenge in this space It's the designing of the seating I Could not see every child in my classroom nor could every child in my classroom see me So what did I do I? Broke from tradition and they didn't sit in clusters or groups But they sat in a u-shape where they could see one another and see me But what happens when you step outside the conforms of design? Transformation Because all of a sudden the culture and dynamic in my classroom was entirely different No longer was I the authoritative adult at the top of the room with this Assumption that education was almost fucotion that they were pales that I had to fill with knowledge It became about power sharing Because all of a sudden with this design of the classroom, we were all at eye level and That was something that my colleagues who were training to be teachers Couldn't replicate Because what everybody saw as my disadvantage became my enormous advantage despite the challenges of design and It was within education that taught me the limits of not only who's designing product But who's designing curriculum and who's designing culture? Teaching in what was known as socio-economic disadvantage areas. I realized the limitations of designing of curriculum Because when I was told to teach about homes, I would teach about cottages with attached roofs I would teach about bungalows. I would teach about terrace The books that I was instructed to work from never spoke about homelessness Which was a reality for so many in my classroom And yet I realized very quickly That if we are only designing for an experience which we are familiar with What are the blind spots? Who are we leaving out? And I had a very wonderful Transformative personal discovery in exactly this one of the most challenging subjects to teach in my classroom was mathematics The boys and girls who I taught didn't feel like it was a subject that they could easily interact with Primarily because the language was inaccessible to them So I taught maths through the local takeout menu and told them the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Which as a disabled woman with dwarfism, they were unsure as to where I was taking that narrative But I told them that Snow White and Prince Charming had left to go in a last-minute date And we had 60 euro by which we had to calculate and work out all of the different menu requirements from the Seven Dwarfs One was paleo One was vegan because it's January Three were vegetarian Complicating the arithmetic for those who were independently able Whilst it gave me an opportunity to sit with those who were really challenged by the material And I learned one very important thing. I said okay, well, let's just work out the chips And one boy who really struggled academically said to me okay great well one bag of chips is 250 Two bags of chips is five euro And if anybody is a teacher or a parent in the room that moment when a child understands multiplication It's just sensational And I wrote down the multiplication and he looked at me like I was bananas and he said what are you doing? I said that's what you just did. You just did multiplication. You did maths And he said I didn't do maths. I did dinner And we as adults in this room and very privileged space can laugh at that But he was being entirely sincere because he did not see the relevance of his reality Mirrored in any way the design of the curriculum at the design of the classroom So how could he see it as an opportunity in which he could be a success? And in many ways the education system taught me that Design wasn't just unique in terms of its challenges and limitations of me as a disabled woman But it framed my thinking When it came to not only teaching But also fashion I sent at the height of three foot five inches tall and I'm completely enamored by the power of fashion It is the one industry in which we each have to legally interact with We almost were closed and Yet as a disabled woman I felt completely Lost within the landscape I would go shopping with my siblings or with my friends and as you can see from this image alone Could not reach so many of the items that exist. I was never considered within the design process Be it at the rails in the changing room at the height of the cash register But it is not just within the retail space and design alone that I'm not considered But in the entire ecosystem in fashion. I love clothes But at three foot five inches tall if you pass me in the corridors of the congress center, you may mistake me for a child However today, I'm wearing full-length custom Gucci It is unlikely you will mistake me for a child And that is the power of fashion But what does the fashion industry need to do to change? Because in many ways the system is enormous and it seems very difficult to transform Do we need models and lines that are just designed specifically for disabled people? I Really don't feel that's a long-term solution What I need on a very individual basis is something most of us in this room need Alterations as you can see this coat doesn't entirely fit But what about if we start to deconstruct it? literally What about if we take some more off and for good effect? Add a crown Now this is not a coat that I can wear every day These are beautiful images by the incredible fashion photographer Tim Walker for the print issue of the business of fashion But the ecosystem of the fashion industry is taking steps forward But it needs to change at every level We need to be encouraging design students that there is not just one body type That is a good body or is the right body in which needs to be designed for how can we encourage? Creativity and curiosity among design students How do we make sure that disabled people feel that fashion is not just an industry that they can participate in as consumers? But also as employees as a disabled woman. I like to describe myself as organized creative curious and articulate Those are four skills that I developed not just out of personal interest but for survival From the earliest of age I've been having to manipulate architecture and design in order for my independence For just a second think within this space alone. How I would have to mitigate them Perhaps it's in the design of public restrooms and I cannot reach the lock on the cubicle door So over the course of the next few days, you may see me approaching you and asking you for assistance or for help But what's the broader lens? So not only do we need to look at design students, but this community Has a size of one billion people It's the size of China and in terms of their spending It's just over two trillion dollars But we need to do this sincerely and beautifully We need to develop scholarship programs so that those who are disabled can enter into these spaces and participate in design colleges We need to make sure that HR and employment practices are rid of any biases that might exist If a CV comes across your desk and someone says that they were unwell for a period of time or there was a time missing within their CV It's not good enough just to discredit them We need to also make sure that designers are bringing disabled people into the conversation Because they will have ideas about the future of design that is formed by their lived experience Take this dress for example My condition of a contraplasia means that I have a curvature in my spine Which means that all garments that have to go around my hip measurement lift So whenever I'm liating with a designer be a Gucci or another brand I asked them very specifically Will you please introduce two inches longer the hemline at the rear so that it would look odd and a hanger But even on me For so many brands, this is a new innovation But how many consumers have a wider hip measurement than they do waist measurement This is the beauty of bringing in this diversity of voices and removing the blind spot that we have within the system of design But is the fashion industry changing? Earlier this year. I was very fortunate to receive the leadership award at the green carpet fashion awards in Milan and this is on stage at the Scala But in order to take steps forward this conversation is not going to change tomorrow or the next day Brands have to invest in this as a long-term change Because one of the greatest challenges that has been for the advancement of this conversation is that disabled voices have just not been included But what do we need? We need platforms not pedestals We need the design communities being an architecture fashion Education and society as a whole to open up the privileged spaces and to welcome the diversity of voices that exists within our Society to be included in the conversation We need to value their contributions their lived experience and continuously ask the question Who is not in the room and what I would ask you in the audience is Who is not in the room? I'm very grateful to all of you who have taken this moment this morning so early within the very first day of the Davos schedule but I would ask you From whatever you learn from this session to be empowered to be an advocate and an ally and Have this discussion as you meander through the corridors and meet people who can create change tomorrow if not the next day I need you to ask who is not in this room and Who is not in the rooms as you go back to wherever you work and exist? Because the only way in which change can happen is if we all do this together. Thank you very much