Welcome to 'Untamed - Beyond Inclusion'

Welcome to the first 'Untamed - Beyond Inclusion' newsletter. Yet, where to start?

For those who don't know me, I'm Jess Mitchell and my pronouns are they/them. I'm a thirty "something" queer non-binary (it's a journey) person living in Meanjin, Brisbane, with a disability.

Ideally, I would like to sell myself here, and yet, it's something I'm yet to feel comfortable with. So, let me say, that through my own experiences and journey, I have come to influencing diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

Through these newsletters, I plan to share, directly and indirectly, my experiences, knowledge, observations and more. These will range in topic, including, but certainly not limited to:

• Accessibility and disability inclusion and discrimination
• Dignity, period poverty and all things related
• Gender - the bender, blender and binary
• Intersectionality and the untamed mess - us, me, humans.

When I look at my own journey, it has been very messy, with lines crossing all over the place. I've had highs and low, spectrums of colour and emotions, learnings, new opportunities and closing doors. For this reason, I had originally planned to call my newsletters 'Untamed - Inclusion through 'their' kaleidoscope', as all humans are messy, most of all myself. We all like to:

• feel in control
• keep our emotions in check
• hide our thoughts, feelings, and often true selves.

Yet, underneath, most of us (I think) are one big melting point.

So, why the change it title, well, in line with all things messy, my perfect title, was too long. And so, 'Untamed - Beyond Inclusion' was born.

I hope you enjoy this and the newsletters to come. They will be imperfect, crazy and hopefully, 100%, all things bared.