When I speak to Annabelle Williams, she’s in the hair and makeup chair, nursing her six week old daughter Clementine.

And while she’s got a lot to hold, both literally and figuratively, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for the Paralympic gold medallist, keynote speaker, lawyer, diversity and inclusion advocate, and – once upon a time – Charlize Theron’s stunt double. (Yes, really). So, of course, I had to ask how she does it. “I think sport taught me a lot about time management” she says.  “I always had to wake up at four o'clock in the morning to get to training, so it just made me disciplined in routines. But I have a village of people who support me. I think it's important to recognise that it's certainly not just me. It's putting in place the infrastructure you need to be able to do the things you want to do, and then it's just recognising that 24 hours is a very long time in a day. Sleep and self care is vitally important, but you can get enough of that and still do quite a lot, you just have to prepare and plan ahead.”

And there’s another important factor. “I'm in a fortunate position where I really love what I do, and so I want to make it work. I think that's the thing. If you really want to do something and you want to make something work, you can figure it out.”

That’s a motto Annabelle has proven true, time and time again throughout her life. Born missing her left hand, she’s had her share of hurdles to face. From learning to tie her shoelaces (she practiced for a week until she had it mastered – “if I'm trying something, I'll never give up on it”, she says now) to facing outright discrimination. But these experiences have often acted as seeds for change within Annabelle’s life. “I think along with grit comes a growth mindset. This idea that with effort and hard work, I can achieve things, even if at the beginning I didn't think I could. Grit has certainly been very important in my life.”

But so has beauty, kindness, and love. At the heart of Annabelle’s story is the support of the people who love her – family, friends, and advocates. And a great outfit certainly doesn’t hurt. “My wardrobe is almost entirely Seed”, she laughs. “I really love getting dressed up…it gives me confidence”. And as you’re about to find out, having confidence is half the battle won. The other half? A great support system – and a random act of kindness or two…

1% of employees identify as having a disability, despite the fact that people with disability account for 20% of the population. So what does this statistic tell us?

I think it firstly tells us that people with a disability don't feel safe to reveal that they have a disability in their place of work. And I think it shows that organisations don't make it clear to people with disabilities that they are able to show up as their full selves, that they will have the opportunities to take on leadership roles. It shows that they won't necessarily make all the accommodations that people require. I certainly think that the corporate world doesn't do a good enough job of attracting people with disability, because people with disability feel like they can't see themselves represented in organisations, and particularly in leadership roles. And so I think what organisations have to do is make it extremely clear that they welcome, and more than just saying it in their job advertisement, people with disability to apply. They need to make it a mandate of senior management to recruit people with disability, tie their bonuses to having a diverse team, so that then people with disability can see that the organisation is one that is truly inclusive. And then I think we'll see people with disability more readily apply for jobs which they currently feel like they won't get over an able-bodied candidate. And there's a bit of debate about the actual statistic, but it's either one in four or one in five of us have a disability, and a lot of those are not visible. And so people with invisible disabilities would feel more comfortable to disclose that they have a disability as well, and be proud of it.

The theme of International Women's Day this year is Break The Bias. What’s the biggest bias that you would like to see broken in 2022?

The idea that disability is a bad thing. I think most people consider disability to be a negative thing, and so able-bodied people usually say to me, ‘I wish we didn't use the word disabled’. And I know people with disability have an individual view about that, but when I think of the word disabled, I think of all of my incredible friends who are amazing human beings and have achieved incredible things in sport, in their careers, as parents, as friends, and so I see disability and the word disabled as a really beautiful word to describe these incredible people. We have a stereotype of disability in our own minds, and we think it's negative when it's actually not, it's just different.

And the other thing in terms of breaking down the stigma towards disability, is I feel comfortable answering questions about my disability, as long as it's asked in a kind and curious way. Because of course not everyone knows the right language to use, so I think that it's really good that people express, ‘I'm not really sure if I'm using the right language, but is this how I should phrase it, or could you please tell me what language I should use?’ I think that level of curiosity is a great thing.

Children often ask me about my disability, and their parents sort of hurry them on or say, ‘No, don't ask that,’ and that is also the unconscious bias of the parents seeing disability as bad thing, and that I wouldn't want to talk about it. The message that they're sending children is disability is not good, and this is not something we should discuss, which of course makes the child more curious. So I'd encourage if children are asking about disability, that the parents sort of just allow the person with the disability to answer in the way they feel comfortable. I obviously don't speak for everyone, but by and large, people with a disability who I know, we understand that children are always curious, and so very happy to answer their questions.

We're here today shooting our campaign with Seed Heritage, called Seeds of Change. And there was an experience that you had as a little girl that was a seed for change in your life, which was a drawing activity that your teacher set for the class. So can you tell us about that, and why it had such a big impact on you?

Well first of all, I love Seed! My wardrobe is almost entirely Seed, and my daughter's. But I was about 10 years old and there was a little boy in my class, and one day he asked me if I would sit next to him at lunch the next day. As a 10 year old, that is absolutely as close as you get to being asked out on a date, so I felt very popular, and I remember feeling so excited about this lunch. I asked my mum to do a special ponytail the next morning before school, and I remember feeling really confident walking into school the next day. When lunch came around I asked all my girlfriends to sit close by, and he asked all of his friends to sit close by. And he and I sat very awkwardly between these two groups, having lunch. At the end of lunch, he stood up and said in front of everyone in the playground, as loudly as he possibly could, that he would never, ever sit next to me again because he thought it was so weird that I only had one hand.

And with the benefit of hindsight, I know comments like that hurt at any age, but especially when you're 10 years old, and I already felt very different. I remember it so vividly. My face started to feel so hot, and these tears started to well up in my eyes, and I went home that afternoon and said to my parents that I was never going to go back to school again.

But my grandma who had overcome a lot of adversity in her own life - she was a widow at the age of 25 and raised two young children, and she was really my soulmate, taught me so much about resilience. She said to me that I had to go to school the next day because I had to face my fear. And so she walked me to school the next day, and just before I walked through the gate, she gave me two kisses. She gave me a kiss on one cheek and said, "This is our love," and a kiss on the other cheek, and said, "This the courage to be brave." And I remember feeling so valuable, and walked into the school and went straight to the classroom and sat down. And my amazing teacher, whose name was Ms. Clark, she had no doubt heard what had occurred the day before in the playground, but didn't come and speak to me directly. Instead she told our whole class for the first lesson of the day, we were going to do a creative exercise. And we had to draw our version of a superhero, but the one thing every single superhero had to have was a disability. And so by the end of the class, there were 25 superheros that all had one arm. And Miss Clark hung them at the front of our classroom for the whole year, and it was just this incredibly pivotal moment, and a seed for change in my life. Because I truly believe if I'd gone to school that day and no one had said anything to me, it could have really had a significant impact on my wellbeing and self esteem. But instead it was this moment where someone who was in a position of authority, a leadership position, saw an opportunity to help someone who was in a really vulnerable position, and she took it. And she communicated to me that what the boy had said the day before wasn't the way people felt towards me. She was trying to tell me that we see you as a superhero, and that gave me a lot of confidence. And I remember by morning tea, I was back to my normal self and running around the playground, and so it was just this circuit breaker in what could otherwise have been a really traumatic experience. I speak a lot about kindness. Never underestimate a random act of kindness towards someone, because you never know how significant an impact it might have on them.

When you were 17, you qualified for the Commonwealth Games team, and you said that afterwards you remember seeing your mum's hands, and her palms were black from bruising because she'd been clapping so hard during the competition. So tell me about what that kind of support does for your mindset.

My parents are both amazing. I just always felt like I had this safe place. No matter what had gone on at school or what sort of challenges I'd faced during the day, I went home to this really caring, kind, loving, safe place, and I felt like I always had the ability to share whatever had occurred, and I would always be supported through it. And that needs to occur everywhere. A lot of the work I do now with organisations is to help them build a sense of belonging in workplaces, so that people feel included, and that's the same sense of community. Covid’s been awful, but if there's one think it's done that's been good, it's people are perhaps more empathetic towards others, and understanding that a sense of belonging is important. I love working with businesses to make sure leaders foster that sense of inclusion. Because if they allow people to come to work as their full selves, then you'll have happier employees, they'll stay longer, all that sort of stuff.

You would know better than most the power that clothes have to shape the way that we feel. I'm sure that stepping into that Team Australia uniform for the first time would have been thrilling, and wearing suits probably helps you into the mindset of a lawyer. What's your favourite thing to wear, and what's your relationship with style?

Yes, absolutely. Most athletes say once you receive your team kit or your team gear, that's when it really becomes real for you. That's why it's so important that you feel great in your uniform, because until that moment, you can qualify for a Paralympic team, but it's not really until you step into the clothes that you really feel like you're representing Australia, and so we talk all the time about how important the outfit is. And I've always loved fashion. I've always been very interested in style. In different settings I love to wear so many different things. I do a lot of work from home, and so I like to be comfortable, and I probably tend to wear sort of classic colours. Quite muted, like navy and white. But I really do love getting dressed up for events. I think that's my favourite part of my job. It's such a privilege to be here today wearing these beautiful Seed Heritage clothes. Giving keynotes, that's when I feel my best, when I stand up on stage and I'm wearing a beautiful outfit - often it's a jumpsuit or a beautiful dress or a suit. I quite like wearing non-traditional suits, more colourful suits. And high heels! I wear quite high heels. It gives me a lot of confidence.

Children really are the seeds of change, and you have two little girls. Can you share anything that you've learned about diversity and inclusion through seeing the world through their eyes?

Josie absolutely loves ballet. And we were in a ballet lesson not long ago, and the teacher had bought these butterfly wings for the class. During the lesson, which is only half an hour long, she brought out the new packets of butterfly wings, but they were all still packaged up. And so she asked if the parents would open the packet so that it wasn't too time consuming for her to open every single one. I went forward to open the packet for Josie, and because I have one arm, it was taking me longer to open it. And so all the other girls and boys in the class already had their butterfly wings on and were running around, and I was still trying to open the packet.

I immediately felt, ‘Oh, she may even miss the entire song because I can't get these open.’ And I remember looking up at her and she was just standing with me, and she had her her hand around my neck. Her whole life she's known someone with a disability, and I've got lots of friends who she knows, and she looked at me and said, ‘It's all right, Mama. I can see it's a bit tricky.’ It almost made me cry because I thought, she understands. Even from such a young age, we underestimate what children can understand, and the level of empathy they can show, and how much they can learn about the importance of everyone's differences, the diversity that everyone brings. I think she was probably two and a half then, maybe three, and she could see that it was trickier for me and she understood why, and so she had this patience and care. I've learned a huge amount from her. And she's done things like that quite regularly since. She'll say, ‘Doing a great job, Mummy’. And the way in which she communicates, the language she uses, is really inclusive. Children can grow up knowing that level of inclusion. It doesn't have to be something that's taught when we're much older, and wouldn't that be so wonderful if every child grew up just being accepting of everyone's differences.