imagine every time you went out into the
use of taller anywhere you’re unable to
open doors or is falling or you’re laid
down on a dirty public toilet floor you
have nowhere to dispose of incontinence
products or you create a mess and have
no ability to clean up in public
facilities oh we’re still you’re told to
go eat your lunch or medicate in a dirty
public toileting facility every time you
went out into the community welcome to
my world
the welded disability complex medical
the elderly and parents small children
I’m Kathryn Lyons and whilst I was born
my disability I wasn’t always in a
wheelchair at nine months of age I was
diagnosed with microcephaly and the
doctor said I wouldn’t be intellectually
capable of achieving much during grade
eight I had multiple seizures causing
brain damage and I end up losing my
memory for five months I was told it was
like living in the movie 50 first dates
where I forgot my family and my friends
nor did I understand how to use everyday
objects back then no one really
understood about neuroplasticity the
doctors assessed and assumed that I
would never improve but my brain
actually started to repair itself and
most I can remember many things and have
improved greatly I do still struggle for
ongoing memory issues hence my tablet is
going to help me keep on track at
puberty the long bones in my legs
twisted and in year 12 whilst completing
exams I underwent bilateral D rotational
osteotomies where they broke my legs in
eight places and D rotated them back
over a period of three weeks
unfortunately when I got back to walking
my brains were twisted I don’t and over
a couple of years I have required
multiple surgeries for this after
diagnosing me with an unidentifiable
progressive degenerative connective
tissue disorder back in 2011 the doctors
recommended I’d go home and wait to die
and the medical department questioned my
quality of life forcing me to have to
fight for my right to medical treatment
as this disorder affects every part of
my body from my heart organs to my
muscle skin and bones at times impacting
on my ability to communicate or move or
move independently and I end up spending
days on end unable to feed or toilet
myself in February 2016
my mother challenged me to live my life
instead of waiting to die
so I started accessibility a social
enterprise with a mission to change the
perception of society by developing more
inclusive toileting solutions that could
install or be retrofitted to improve
lives and create safer more sanitary
facilities everywhere today my topic is
the emotion behind the process of
creative change and its global impact on
industry and so it should be no surprise
what my focuses creating change in
toilets earlier this year I received an
accolade and it was the first time I was
acknowledged as a change maker it was
truly an exciting moment for me which is
kind of ironic as 12 months ago I was
live-streamed over under over 400,000
people globally as I declared I am the
face of change but recently I’ve
realized everybody represents change in
that own individual way is woven into
our DNA each one of us is changing as we
go in different directions for some of
us it relates to our pursuit of
happiness and we will change everything
around us to achieve this we all grow
through interaction we all learn
multiply and teach we are ever-evolving
and yet there is a difference between
change and creative change for me the
purpose behind creative change is
learning from the past and applying it
to the present with the intention of
creating a better future and most many
people are innovative and achieving
change in their own ways understanding
the emotion behind creative chain
is key within survival within an
ever-changing competitive industry the
solution is really easy as business
determine success of product by profit
however when you’re looking at the needs
of society the profits are not always
tangible I was looking for the right
solution to revolutionize the way
society viewed and supported itself I
wanted to develop the processes that
would support people better by enhancing
community access and improving quality
of life for me business was secondary
here in Australia we are like every
other nation we perceive society as
inclusive embracing all but is this
reality how would you feel if I told you
every day people have issues with
accessing sanitation and waste
management in your own community in
Australia this impacts on six million
people my disability has given me the
unique perspective of the lack of
functionality within our community I can
see many failings of how things are
designed and I can see the isolation
this causes you see toilets aren’t
accessible in fact one in four people
aren’t unable to it safely and this
impacts on the economy it is time to
acknowledge everybody’s right to toilet
with dignity and so I would like to
share with you all my story back in 2009
I attended my graduation and this was
the day my mother found out the schools
and my secret I could access every
classroom but there were problems with
the accessible toilets there was a step
outside and my chair didn’t fit through
the doorway and the handle bars were
fitted incorrectly even though I wasn’t
the only root rebound student at this
school our needs had not been properly
considered in fact I hadn’t even told
mum as I presume this is just how
society was I dealt with it by holding
on all day wearing sanitary products in
my
we’re hoping and praying I wouldn’t have
sometimes it was unavoidable this
impacted on my kidneys causing
infections and my bladder overextended
daily it is now unable to function
correctly and eventually I will end up
with a stoma pouch seven years have
passed by and with society telling me
what I couldn’t do and so I decided to
come out of the shadows
and overcome to perceive limitation
society forced on me by others early
2016
I discovered to use them how to use my
voice as a change maker however having
need to access a toilet was not enough
the idea of improving the way their
design doesn’t guarantee change either
to achieve this all I needed to do was
to have the government and society want
this change as well it’s a simple
premise to to want to be able to go to
the toilet safely or with dignity right
frustratingly I found out it was not
quite so simple for someone who lives
with memory issues this wasn’t easy I
had to understand what was required to
enable this having never considered
myself as a humanitarian or advocate I
set out on my quest for change the
challenges I faced meant I needed to
learn the skills to become an innovator
and an entrepreneur and all of this from
someone who was told she didn’t have the
skill set to study and deemed
unemployable because of a
life-threatening medical condition this
was an emotional roller coaster for me
as I had to convince myself I was
capable and then I had to prove it to
others to achieve it I began I began by
identifying my coal value inclusion as
for how I felt about not being able to
access facilities safely and with
dignity was just as important as finding
a solution not having the knowledge I
needed
began thinking outside of the box I
didn’t know it then but I was creating
change not only for myself but for the
world I contacted my local council and
asked if they had any small businesses I
could tap into this enabled me to
connect with people who understood the
details of developing a business at this
stage I had already spent six months
researching problems of toilets in the
wider community developing connections
with support groups and end users that
will benefit from change and by speaking
with these people I discovered I wasn’t
the only ones whose mental health had
been impacted on the lack of access of
toilets by August I had contacted my
local university asking whether I could
utilize their students and facilities to
resolve issues
KREM the opportunity of working with
multiple designers and by collaborating
with and Jesus we were able to come up
with better blueprints during this
process whilst the designers were
working towards solutions
I started engaging with various
industries like retail tourism health
and government to better understand the
marketplace and arouse their interest I
had realized that for any product to be
successful there needs to be a demand
there is no point to having a solution
if there is no market but how do you
make others want it when they don’t see
a problem with any of the current
facilities the change perception within
communities the government and the
corporate sectors I needed to go beyond
the product the design of the product
and bring the emotional impact of access
to the forefront of everybody’s mind but
no one really likes to talk about
toilets or toileting it is perceived as
taboo and so I got asked to speak at the
World Toilet Summit and yes there is one
I went along to present an insight
relating to the problems in toileting
with in developed countries with the
goal to educate and improve outcomes
globally and whilst the focus of the
summit was sanitation and hygiene in
third-world countries I was hoping to
show these leaders that they could learn
from our problems we live in within
developed countries and build better
solutions in third-world ones India
presented their program of building 10
million toilets in over a period of 10
years they had already successfully
built 10 million upstairs upstairs so my
questions why had they not built
anywhere France as what they had not
realized was there’s two types of people
in this world people who can climb
stairs and people who can’t it just
isn’t people it just isn’t people that
are disabled like me this impacts on the
elderly people complex medical
conditions and very small children today
in India they are starting to build
community toilets for France to better
support everyone but did you know that
20% of our population live with
incontinence and this includes men even
the German government have legislated a
need to deal with the growing issue of
incontinence in males in their country
now let’s add to this percentage the
number of people who use toilet wipes
according to studies done by Sydney
water the largest group of for uses of
toilet wipes it’s not people with
disabilities nor is it parents more
children it’s men aged 30 18 to 34 years
women have accessed the sanitary bins so
why don’t men I had already approached
various sanitary bin providers about
creating bins that could utilise
I could deal with these issues and then
approached the government about
identifying the incumbent spin within
their legislative standards for public
facilities and then I approached
till and the health sectors about
installing them I was so excited when
our state government identified this as
a necessity within that current building
plans and started seeing them included
into accessible facilities with some
some major shopping centers and
government hospitals for me it meant the
government and industry had joined my
quest for change but one of my proudest
moments was the installation of an
assistant animal relief area in the
Brisbane airports after after raising
this important issue with the government
back in 2016 so let’s we’ll talk about
so let’s all talk about it for a moment
where do the support dogs go to the
toilet grass Terry is on always
accessible and or available in major
cities shopping centers and on public
transport and collecting their droppings
is not so simple either when you are
physically disabled or blind now put
yourself in my shoes for a moment and
imagine you went out and about in the
but the only accessible toilet available
has a manual door that is operated and
there is no one around to assist you you
try to lean forward with one hand while
spelling is help whilst propelling your
wheelchair with the other but you are
struggling because the doors are much
larger and heavier than others and your
center of gravity is lower now let’s add
brands when I say it’s almost impossible
believe me it is having self opening
doors is very much easier as planning
development and building regulations
start to support these types of reform
the building of more inclusive
communities will expand but at the end
of the day emotion has played a major
part in my decision-making and reason
processes how effectively it is plied
defines the difference between success
and failure
looking back while slit could have had
done some things differently I have
learned that creating a business and
product is not enough creating the right
solution by choosing ideas that support
the development of greater access which
everyone will benefit from was far more
important so my core value through all
of this has remained the same inclusion
through making some minor changes one
can have a radical impact on how society
connects in the future did you know
there is actually a World Toilet Day
google it as it is happening soon
consider what you have heard today and
go inside a public toilet look around
and think about how this could be made
better for everybody does it need a bin
or so what can you do to make a
difference in your community
and remember toilets aren’t a human name
nor is toileting with dignity yet we all
need to toll it to survive as I have
found I have been on an emotional
journey of self-discovery purpose-driven
better define who I am and how I belong
within our world it just so happened to
include the desire to build a more
inclusive one when where I and people
like me can belong with a lot of
patience determination and sometimes he
is I have been fascinated by every step
of my journey so far as in the beginning
I wanted to be able to tell it with
dignity and to achieve this I had to
come out of the shadows and today it has
evolved into something much larger
something no one would have ever
imagined today history is being changed
and little did I know I would be the one
to change
history all of this started with an idea
a simple need that alone would have been
an impossible task yet from the help of
others creative change happens
but just remember each of you are
changemakers and your change doesn’t
have to be history-making
or out there for the world to see for
your change to happen you need to take a
step forward and create your journey as
you will find amazing things are going
to happen thank you [Applause]
use of taller anywhere you’re unable to
open doors or is falling or you’re laid
down on a dirty public toilet floor you
have nowhere to dispose of incontinence
products or you create a mess and have
no ability to clean up in public
facilities oh we’re still you’re told to
go eat your lunch or medicate in a dirty
public toileting facility every time you
went out into the community welcome to
my world
the welded disability complex medical
the elderly and parents small children
I’m Kathryn Lyons and whilst I was born
my disability I wasn’t always in a
wheelchair at nine months of age I was
diagnosed with microcephaly and the
doctor said I wouldn’t be intellectually
capable of achieving much during grade
eight I had multiple seizures causing
brain damage and I end up losing my
memory for five months I was told it was
like living in the movie 50 first dates
where I forgot my family and my friends
nor did I understand how to use everyday
objects back then no one really
understood about neuroplasticity the
doctors assessed and assumed that I
would never improve but my brain
actually started to repair itself and
most I can remember many things and have
improved greatly I do still struggle for
ongoing memory issues hence my tablet is
going to help me keep on track at
puberty the long bones in my legs
twisted and in year 12 whilst completing
exams I underwent bilateral D rotational
osteotomies where they broke my legs in
eight places and D rotated them back
over a period of three weeks
unfortunately when I got back to walking
my brains were twisted I don’t and over
a couple of years I have required
multiple surgeries for this after
diagnosing me with an unidentifiable
progressive degenerative connective
tissue disorder back in 2011 the doctors
recommended I’d go home and wait to die
and the medical department questioned my
quality of life forcing me to have to
fight for my right to medical treatment
as this disorder affects every part of
my body from my heart organs to my
muscle skin and bones at times impacting
on my ability to communicate or move or
move independently and I end up spending
days on end unable to feed or toilet
myself in February 2016
my mother challenged me to live my life
instead of waiting to die
so I started accessibility a social
enterprise with a mission to change the
perception of society by developing more
inclusive toileting solutions that could
install or be retrofitted to improve
lives and create safer more sanitary
facilities everywhere today my topic is
the emotion behind the process of
creative change and its global impact on
industry and so it should be no surprise
what my focuses creating change in
toilets earlier this year I received an
accolade and it was the first time I was
acknowledged as a change maker it was
truly an exciting moment for me which is
kind of ironic as 12 months ago I was
live-streamed over under over 400,000
people globally as I declared I am the
face of change but recently I’ve
realized everybody represents change in
that own individual way is woven into
our DNA each one of us is changing as we
go in different directions for some of
us it relates to our pursuit of
happiness and we will change everything
around us to achieve this we all grow
through interaction we all learn
multiply and teach we are ever-evolving
and yet there is a difference between
change and creative change for me the
purpose behind creative change is
learning from the past and applying it
to the present with the intention of
creating a better future and most many
people are innovative and achieving
change in their own ways understanding
the emotion behind creative chain
is key within survival within an
ever-changing competitive industry the
solution is really easy as business
determine success of product by profit
however when you’re looking at the needs
of society the profits are not always
tangible I was looking for the right
solution to revolutionize the way
society viewed and supported itself I
wanted to develop the processes that
would support people better by enhancing
community access and improving quality
of life for me business was secondary
here in Australia we are like every
other nation we perceive society as
inclusive embracing all but is this
reality how would you feel if I told you
every day people have issues with
accessing sanitation and waste
management in your own community in
Australia this impacts on six million
people my disability has given me the
unique perspective of the lack of
functionality within our community I can
see many failings of how things are
designed and I can see the isolation
this causes you see toilets aren’t
accessible in fact one in four people
aren’t unable to it safely and this
impacts on the economy it is time to
acknowledge everybody’s right to toilet
with dignity and so I would like to
share with you all my story back in 2009
I attended my graduation and this was
the day my mother found out the schools
and my secret I could access every
classroom but there were problems with
the accessible toilets there was a step
outside and my chair didn’t fit through
the doorway and the handle bars were
fitted incorrectly even though I wasn’t
the only root rebound student at this
school our needs had not been properly
considered in fact I hadn’t even told
mum as I presume this is just how
society was I dealt with it by holding
on all day wearing sanitary products in
my
we’re hoping and praying I wouldn’t have
sometimes it was unavoidable this
impacted on my kidneys causing
infections and my bladder overextended
daily it is now unable to function
correctly and eventually I will end up
with a stoma pouch seven years have
passed by and with society telling me
what I couldn’t do and so I decided to
come out of the shadows
and overcome to perceive limitation
society forced on me by others early
2016
I discovered to use them how to use my
voice as a change maker however having
need to access a toilet was not enough
the idea of improving the way their
design doesn’t guarantee change either
to achieve this all I needed to do was
to have the government and society want
this change as well it’s a simple
premise to to want to be able to go to
the toilet safely or with dignity right
frustratingly I found out it was not
quite so simple for someone who lives
with memory issues this wasn’t easy I
had to understand what was required to
enable this having never considered
myself as a humanitarian or advocate I
set out on my quest for change the
challenges I faced meant I needed to
learn the skills to become an innovator
and an entrepreneur and all of this from
someone who was told she didn’t have the
skill set to study and deemed
unemployable because of a
life-threatening medical condition this
was an emotional roller coaster for me
as I had to convince myself I was
capable and then I had to prove it to
others to achieve it I began I began by
identifying my coal value inclusion as
for how I felt about not being able to
access facilities safely and with
dignity was just as important as finding
a solution not having the knowledge I
needed
began thinking outside of the box I
didn’t know it then but I was creating
change not only for myself but for the
world I contacted my local council and
asked if they had any small businesses I
could tap into this enabled me to
connect with people who understood the
details of developing a business at this
stage I had already spent six months
researching problems of toilets in the
wider community developing connections
with support groups and end users that
will benefit from change and by speaking
with these people I discovered I wasn’t
the only ones whose mental health had
been impacted on the lack of access of
toilets by August I had contacted my
local university asking whether I could
utilize their students and facilities to
resolve issues
KREM the opportunity of working with
multiple designers and by collaborating
with and Jesus we were able to come up
with better blueprints during this
process whilst the designers were
working towards solutions
I started engaging with various
industries like retail tourism health
and government to better understand the
marketplace and arouse their interest I
had realized that for any product to be
successful there needs to be a demand
there is no point to having a solution
if there is no market but how do you
make others want it when they don’t see
a problem with any of the current
facilities the change perception within
communities the government and the
corporate sectors I needed to go beyond
the product the design of the product
and bring the emotional impact of access
to the forefront of everybody’s mind but
no one really likes to talk about
toilets or toileting it is perceived as
taboo and so I got asked to speak at the
World Toilet Summit and yes there is one
I went along to present an insight
relating to the problems in toileting
with in developed countries with the
goal to educate and improve outcomes
globally and whilst the focus of the
summit was sanitation and hygiene in
third-world countries I was hoping to
show these leaders that they could learn
from our problems we live in within
developed countries and build better
solutions in third-world ones India
presented their program of building 10
million toilets in over a period of 10
years they had already successfully
built 10 million upstairs upstairs so my
questions why had they not built
anywhere France as what they had not
realized was there’s two types of people
in this world people who can climb
stairs and people who can’t it just
isn’t people it just isn’t people that
are disabled like me this impacts on the
elderly people complex medical
conditions and very small children today
in India they are starting to build
community toilets for France to better
support everyone but did you know that
20% of our population live with
incontinence and this includes men even
the German government have legislated a
need to deal with the growing issue of
incontinence in males in their country
now let’s add to this percentage the
number of people who use toilet wipes
according to studies done by Sydney
water the largest group of for uses of
toilet wipes it’s not people with
disabilities nor is it parents more
children it’s men aged 30 18 to 34 years
women have accessed the sanitary bins so
why don’t men I had already approached
various sanitary bin providers about
creating bins that could utilise
I could deal with these issues and then
approached the government about
identifying the incumbent spin within
their legislative standards for public
facilities and then I approached
till and the health sectors about
installing them I was so excited when
our state government identified this as
a necessity within that current building
plans and started seeing them included
into accessible facilities with some
some major shopping centers and
government hospitals for me it meant the
government and industry had joined my
quest for change but one of my proudest
moments was the installation of an
assistant animal relief area in the
Brisbane airports after after raising
this important issue with the government
back in 2016 so let’s we’ll talk about
so let’s all talk about it for a moment
where do the support dogs go to the
toilet grass Terry is on always
accessible and or available in major
cities shopping centers and on public
transport and collecting their droppings
is not so simple either when you are
physically disabled or blind now put
yourself in my shoes for a moment and
imagine you went out and about in the
but the only accessible toilet available
has a manual door that is operated and
there is no one around to assist you you
try to lean forward with one hand while
spelling is help whilst propelling your
wheelchair with the other but you are
struggling because the doors are much
larger and heavier than others and your
center of gravity is lower now let’s add
brands when I say it’s almost impossible
believe me it is having self opening
doors is very much easier as planning
development and building regulations
start to support these types of reform
the building of more inclusive
communities will expand but at the end
of the day emotion has played a major
part in my decision-making and reason
processes how effectively it is plied
defines the difference between success
and failure
looking back while slit could have had
done some things differently I have
learned that creating a business and
product is not enough creating the right
solution by choosing ideas that support
the development of greater access which
everyone will benefit from was far more
important so my core value through all
of this has remained the same inclusion
through making some minor changes one
can have a radical impact on how society
connects in the future did you know
there is actually a World Toilet Day
google it as it is happening soon
consider what you have heard today and
go inside a public toilet look around
and think about how this could be made
better for everybody does it need a bin
or so what can you do to make a
difference in your community
and remember toilets aren’t a human name
nor is toileting with dignity yet we all
need to toll it to survive as I have
found I have been on an emotional
journey of self-discovery purpose-driven
better define who I am and how I belong
within our world it just so happened to
include the desire to build a more
inclusive one when where I and people
like me can belong with a lot of
patience determination and sometimes he
is I have been fascinated by every step
of my journey so far as in the beginning
I wanted to be able to tell it with
dignity and to achieve this I had to
come out of the shadows and today it has
evolved into something much larger
something no one would have ever
imagined today history is being changed
and little did I know I would be the one
to change
history all of this started with an idea
a simple need that alone would have been
an impossible task yet from the help of
others creative change happens
but just remember each of you are
changemakers and your change doesn’t
have to be history-making
or out there for the world to see for
your change to happen you need to take a
step forward and create your journey as
you will find amazing things are going
to happen thank you [Applause]
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