Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience @kintsugiheroes Coming Soon
New Podcast Series Coming Soon ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit Australian podcast network sharing real stories of resilience, disability, and transformation. Named after the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold — the philosophy that what’s been broken can become more beautiful for the mending — every episode […]
Why I spent years refusing the one thing I needed most
Daniel lost his sight at 16 to a genetic condition he couldn’t control. But his story isn’t about overcoming disability. It’s about learning to see differently, finding strength in asking for help, and building a life of purpose beyond what he thought he’d lost. ⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses mental health & wellbeing, which […]
Beyond the Label: How I Learned to See the Person, Not the Disability
Stories about growing up with disability, mental health, and what it means to see the person first. Sally Pymer was diagnosed with chronic lung disease at 19, told she’d have emphysema by 40, and spent decades running from that truth. But growing up with her brother’s severe disabilities taught her something the world forgot: how […]
What I Do While I Can Walk | Alyssa Chhim-Michelle | Golden Threads
What I do while I can walk Alyssa grew up in a Cambodian Australian family shaped by her parents’ escape from genocide. In high school, she learned her father and sister carried the spinocerebellar ataxia gene. After years of uncertainty, she found courage to test for the gene herself through a partner’s unconditional support in […]
Leanne Watson: Three Acts, a Diagnosis, and a Life Built on Community
Leanne Watson sees her life in three acts — and the third one started the day a freshly minted GP finally took her seriously. For nearly a decade, doctors fobbed her off. Lose weight. Build glutes. You’ve had three kids. One specialist had her parade in her bra and undies and said she “looked fine.” […]
Jeff Parker: From Weightlifter to Blind Advocate — 36 Years of Showing Up
SUMMARY At 25, Jeff Parker was a weightlifter in country New South Wales. A week later, he was paralysed from the waist down by a tumour in his spinal cord no doctor had seen coming. In this episode of Golden Threads, host Daniel Dougherty sits down with Jeff — now 61, blind, an NDIS advocate, […]
Just Say Hello First | Leanne Watson | Kintsugi Heroes Shorts
The most inclusive thing you can do for someone with a disability is also the simplest — just say hello. Leanne Watson lives with Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy and has spent years navigating well-meaning but unhelpful interactions. In this clip she breaks down the practical, everyday ways you can include someone — without assumptions, without […]
I Didn’t Ask for Your Prayers | Leanne Watson | Kintsugi Heroes Shorts
A stranger walked up and started praying over her — without asking, without warning. Leanne Watson lives with Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy and has experienced her share of well-intentioned but deeply awkward moments in public. This clip captures one of the most striking: being approached in a hotel foyer and having someone pray over her […]
31 Years of Support: Why Jeff Parker Says ‘You Don’t Have to Do It Alone’
SUMMARY At 25, Jeff Parker was a weightlifter in country New South Wales. A week later, he was paralysed from the waist down by a tumour in his spinal cord no doctor had seen coming. In this episode of Golden Threads, host Daniel Dougherty sits down with Jeff — now 61, blind, an NDIS advocate, […]
Why Disability Inclusion Starts With One Simple Question
Disability inclusion and leadership. Eighteen years ago, Cathy Hockey stepped into an employment program for people with intellectual disabilities with no experience in the field. A simple tool, a one-page profile capturing what each person valued and how to support them, became the foundation for everything: hiring, team-building, and later her entire coaching practice. ⚠️ […]