17.03.2025

In March 2025, Siân Walker travelled to Vienna as L’Arche’s Inclusive Media Representative at #ZeroCon 25. Organised by Zero Project, the Conference campaigns for a world with zero barriers and promotes disability inclusion. More than a thousand participants from over 90 countries gathered over three days at the UN building in Vienna. Siân worked alongside  L’Arche Canada’s Nick Herd to interview changemakers from across the world, and raise awareness about innovative projects in disability employment and inclusive communications technologies. We caught up with her afterwards to find out how it went. 

Siân,what was your overall impression of the Conference? 

It was a wonderful experience. People seemed so happy to be there. Above all, my impression was that everyone seemed united around the same thing: a world without barriers between neurodivergent and non-neurodivergent people. All the projects seemed to be working towards that one goal. 

And tell us more about your work there.

My work involved meeting people who were nominated for awards by Zero Project. We interviewed them about their projects. Before going to Vienna, we had about 3-4 weeks of Zoom meetings, where we prepared for the interviews, prepared questions, and had practice interviews. We met some people online before meeting them in person at the Conference. That helped me build my confidence, as I knew the people I was interviewing beforehand.  

You were working as part of a team. Tell us more about that.

We were a really good team, because we all knew that everyone had a role. Nick and I knew our job was to interview people and make sure we had the right questions to ask. Hope’s job was to organise everyone and make sure we were in the right place at the right time. Warren and Jarek’s job was to film the interviews. And so on.

Did you have a favourite interview or a favourite project?

I think my favourite project was by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a big theatre company in New York. One of the people we interviewed was head of inclusive arts there; the other, an alumnus, is now at the Royal College of Music in London. I myself am passionate about the arts, so it was wonderful to interview them.

But it was such an honour to interview Isabella Essl, whose father Martin founded Zero Project. She took us on a sensory tour of some of her artwork. 

What did you learn about things going on in the world of disability inclusion?

That, with the right support, people can change the world in which we all live.

What did you learn about yourself?

I learned there are no limits so long as you believe in yourself. I am really passionate about media and journalism in particular, and this has really come to the surface for me as a result of my experience at Zero Project. I also learned skills around communication - doing interviews to camera, and so on. I learned that sometimes I need to believe in myself. Usually, I was doing interviews alongside Nick. But on one occasion, Nick was getting ready for his own panel event, so I had to do the interview on my own. At first I was nervous, but then felt excited about it.   

What was your overall highlight of the trip?

A few of us went to an art gallery one afternoon, which was really fun. But my real highlight was actually seeing all these people from all these different countries working together for the same goal: a world with zero barriers. It was lovely to see that. 

 Siân interviewed by the United Nations L'Arche Voice and Power Project