ChangeMakers

The Disability Movement famously argues ‘nothing about us without us.’ Wenn Lawson lives this creed as a world leading autistic advocate and researcher who has helped change how we understand autism and neurodivergence. He shares his journey, including how he shook the house of academia so it would listen to the lives of autistic people. He reflects on the power of co-produced research, identity and difference in how we build knowledge together. For more about Wenn’s research and books, go to http://www.buildsomethingpositive.com/wenn/We first released this episode in 2022.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.socialOn X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

Can you make a difference by being funny? In this episode news satirist and stand up comedian Sami Shah takes us through the art of political satire and the journey that got him there.Sami grew up in Pakistan, studied in the United States and became a fully fledged journalist - and comedian in his home country before traveling to Australia. He moved to Australia in 2012 living in Western Australia and almost killing a kangaroo before becoming a leading stand up comedian as well as a powerful voice for a more diverse comedy, journalistic and artistic community.In this episode we talk about political satire’s power to challenge us and help us see things differently, but also its limits in directly shifting actual events. He talks us through his method for News Satire on his podcast News Weakly, as well as what he has learnt about the power of making jokes about the taboo - including what is happening in Gaza and Israel.You can listening to Sami’s News Weakly podcast, also hosted on ACAST here:https://shows.acast.com/news-weaklyAnd find more about his books and activities here: https://thesamishah.com/For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.socialOn X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

In a world where everyone is worried about cost of living – what difference would it make to lift the wages of the lowest paid workers?Lyndy McIntyre has documented a campaign that did exactly that in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her book Power to Win documents that struggle and in this chat she explores some of the key strategies that made that campaign work.Power to Win is available:In Aotearoa through Otago University PressIn Australia from John Reed BooksIn North America from Independent Publishers GroupIn the UK and Europe from Gazelle Book ServicesFor more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.socialOn X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.TattersallLiving Wage campaign in Aotearoa New Zealand:In May 2012 a new social movement was launched in Aotearoa New Zealand with the goal of lifting the wages of the lowest paid workers. It all began with the Service and Food Workers Union’s mission to win back the power needed to achieve decent pay for its members after the passage of an anti-worker, anti-union law in 1991. After trying many strategies, in 2011 the union reached out to the community with an invitation to build power together to unite around the shared goal of addressing poverty wages. The outcome has been hugely successful and changed the lives of many thousands of workers and their families. In Living Wage Movement Aotearoa NZ faith groups, community organisations and unions work in partnership. These groups represent thousands of New Zealanders in organisations as diverse as Catholic social justice groups, the Māori Women’s Welfare League, students associations and refugee advocacy organisations. The diversity of Living Wage Movement Aotearoa NZ is the strength of the movement and the secret of the success of the many campaigns that have won the living wage for thousands of workers — in corporates, across local and central government and in small businesses and NGOs.Read more about Living Wage Movement Aotearoa NZ here.

Welcome back to ChangeMakers Podcast for 2025! It certainly feels like this is a big year for thinking creatively and deeply about how to make the world better!Our first episode is a re-run of a chat with the brilliant and powerful Grace Tame. Grace took a powerful form of action at the Australian of the Year event a few weeks ago, wearing a provocative t-shirt that got the country (and world) talking! We wanted to celebrate her clear minded and powerful advocacy by re-sharing the chat we had with her in 2023.Enjoy!For our overseas listeners - Grace Tame is the former Australian of the year who wore this t-shirt to an event with the Australian Prime Minister for the 2025 Australian of the Year awards in January. She was an Australian of the Year award winner in 2021 - having been a prominent advocate against child sexual abuse as a survivor. Since her award she has only expanded her reach and voice and this protest was to recognise one of Australia's most unhelpful Australian’s.This podcast was recorded in 2023.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.socialOn X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

The whole world has just witnessed President Trump getting re-elected, but what is the long story behind what happened.In this chat, our last for 2024, we talk to Nick Bryant, US foreign correspondent and author of several books that have sought to understand what is going on with politics in the US!In this conversation Nick shares a little about why he because a journalist focused on the US, then with his eye to history, combined with his intrepid experience as a reporter in the US since the Clinton Administration, he helps explain some of the perpetual challenges that shape America, in particular the darker side to America’s Disneyland,- that help explain how President Trump has been able to be successful.For more on Nick's Books - including The Forever War (2024) and When America Stopped Being Great (2020):https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/nick-bryantRadio: Saturday ExtraYou can find links to the weekly radio program that Nick now hosts on ABC Radio National in Australia:https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/saturdayextra/saturday-extra/103551454ChangeMakers 2024 is supported by the Civic Power Fund and work with the UCL Policy Lab. This year they are supporting ChangeMakers to bring together a collection of Chats filled with extraordinary ideas and everyday experience to understand how we can change the world, www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/ucl-policy-lab and www.civicpower.org.uk/.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

Dave Sweeney has spent much of his life campaigning against the use of nuclear materials. For his efforts working with a group of colleagues at ICAN - the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - he won a Nobel Peace Price in 2017.This is a story of the work he has done. For those curious about the history and risks of nuclear and to better understand some of the debate that is going on right now around nuclear energy, this is an episode worth listening to. This is a "In Case You Missed It Episode" (#ICYMI). We recorded this episode back in 2019.ChangeMakers 2024 is supported by the Civic Power Fund and work with the UCL Policy Lab. This year they are supporting ChangeMakers to bring together a collection of Chats filled with extraordinary ideas and everyday experience to understand how we can change the world, www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/ucl-policy-lab and www.civicpower.org.uk/.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

In NSW Australia there is a Drug Summit underway. It is exploring better ways to respond to the experience and effects of substance use. This episode is a story about the Uniting Church who helped lead the establishment of the first Drug Summit two decades ago and is still leading the Fair Treatment campaign to fight for a better way for the community to respond to drug use.This episode is a ChangeMakers story - it tells the story of the people who fought for that first Drug Summit, why they did it and what they achieved. It paints a picture of a different way that our society could respond to something that too many of us don't want to talk about or would prefer to push under the carpet - substance use.This episode was recorded in 2018 and is re-released today in support of the Fair Treatment's campaign. You can find out more about that campaign here - https://www.fairtreatment.org/ChangeMakers 2024 is supported by the Civic Power Fund and work with the UCL Policy Lab. This year they are supporting ChangeMakers to bring together a collection of Chats filled with extraordinary ideas and everyday experience to understand how we can change the world, www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/ucl-policy-lab and www.civicpower.org.uk/.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

Its easy to think that the problems in our lives are all our fault. But some of the time - indeed much of the time - our problems also come from public life. That is Chrisann Jarrett's journey . When the UK's Home Office told her that she would not be treated as a UK citizen, even though she had lived there for most of her life - she felt like it was her problem. But as she talked with others she began to reframe her experience and see that it was the Home Office who had the problem and that she and others, together, could do something about it.This is the story of We Belong. The organisation that Chrisann and others have built - and some of the stories of the remarkable change they have made.For more on We Belong: https://www.webelong.org.uk/ChangeMakers 2024 is supported by the Civic Power Fund and work with the UCL Policy Lab. This year they are supporting ChangeMakers to bring together a collection of Chats filled with extraordinary ideas and everyday experience to understand how we can change the world, www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/ucl-policy-lab and www.civicpower.org.uk/.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

In this chat celebrated UK community leader Patrick Vernon shares a series of stories about how he has learnt to combined the strengths of putting pressure for change through grassroots activism, and negotiating for change through inside lobby and compromise. Patrick is known for his work in gaining recognition for Black migrants in the UK, particularly in campaigning for the recognition of Windrush Day and the contribution of Black leaders in UK history. He also has a fascinating set of experiences weaving change in external pressure for international solidarity and internal change in institutions like the NHS.Rather than our sometimes polarised political strategists that see activism or formal policy change as separate choices, Patrick makes the case for their versatile and creative interconnection if we are to make change across a progressive political ecosystem.ChangeMakers 2024 is supported by the Civic Power Fund and work with the UCL Policy Lab. This year they are supporting ChangeMakers to bring together a collection of Chats filled with extraordinary ideas and everyday experience to understand how we can change the world, www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/ucl-policy-lab and www.civicpower.org.uk/.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall