Disability Supports & Upholding Rights with Frian Wadia

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Understand what trauma is and how it can show up in the lives of disabled people and their whānau
• Explain key principles of relational neuroscience and nervous system regulation
• Recognise how their own nervous system responses influence interactions
• Apply practical co-regulation and de-escalation strategies in moments of distress
• Identify ways to prevent or reduce re-traumatisation
• Strengthen mana-enhancing, rights-based practice that upholds self-determination and supports sense of felt safety.
Participants will leave with practical tools that can be used immediately — building connection, trust, reducing distress and supporting disabled people to feel genuinely valued, safe and heard.
Connection changes outcomes. Learn how to connect, co-regulate & care with compassion.

Disability service providers, caregivers, educators, allied professionals, support workers, leaders, and anyone working alongside disabled children, youth, and adults who wants to:
• Reduce harm and re-traumatisation
• Deepen relational safety and trust
• Uphold rights and mana
• Respond, not react to distressed behaviours with confidence and compassion
• Align interactions and professional practice with relational neuroscience, trauma informed principles, disability rights and Enabling Good Lives (EGL) principles

Frian Wadia MNZM is a passionate advocate, educator and community champion committed to improving outcomes for disabled children, young people and adults in Aotearoa. She brings over two decades of lived and professional experience in disability, shaped profoundly as a parent of three children with support needs, navigating education, health and support systems alongside them.
Frian’s work and advocacy is strongly focused on inclusion and equity for disabled, neurodivergent and other disadvantaged children and their families, through the adoption of disability rights, relational neuroscience, and trauma informed principles.
Her facilitation style combines clarity, warmth and courageous honesty — inviting reflection while offering concrete strategies that reduce harm and strengthen the mana of the individual.
Frian is deeply committed to collective learning and systemic improvement.
Above all, Frian brings humanity to her work — combining lived experience, professional expertise and unwavering belief in the inherent dignity and potential of every disabled person.