Bernadette has been involved with disability issues for many years, as a parent and worker in the disability advocacy sector. Her passion for research, particularly about intellectual disability, led her to undertake and complete a doctorate exploring self-determination of people with intellectual disability within family relationships. As an affiliate of the Centre for Research Policy and Practice (The University of Sydney) and vice president of the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability (ASID), Bernadette strongly believes in the need for research to inform practice. She hopes that the Inclusive Governance Project will make it possible for more people with intellectual disability to have a real say in the decision-making of community organisations.