Playing our Way, Thriving Together Program – with Queer Adoptee Leaders and Allies
The aim of this gathering of experts is to share approaches and reflect on how the role of ‘play’, (from DJ’ing to creative sports, games and hobbies) can be a valuable part of post-adoption services. The half day program will also explore how future workshops and services with themes of play can be empowering.
Typical approaches in post-adoption workshops and services can become stuck to ‘heavy’ themes or be intimidating and unappealing to youth. Adoptees from various creative and professional backgrounds are an important but overlooked source of support, knowledge and activations. The ‘Playing our Way, Thriving Together’ initiative emphasises the central role adoptees can play in improving the lives of fellow adoptees and their sense of identity, belonging and connection.
The main aims of this half day program is to provide an opportunity for adoptees, and particularly queer adoptees – who are not always given safe spaces and can lack crucial services – to access peer to peer learning and also gain professional insights from adoptee allies and non-adoptees as well. This includes having time to speak with fellow professionals and researchers about training strategies, experiences collaborating with government and private services, plus grants and consultancy options as their skills become increasingly in demand. There will also be an opportunity to hear from leading experts in Queer Gaming and Interaction Design, and Queer-led Social Work and Education initiatives.
Other topics include group discussions of what might be ‘best practice’ and ‘inclusive, safe spaces’. Insights from the day will also inform our own adoptee focused meet-ups, networking, workshops and events for queer inter-country adoptees and allies, and also broader adoptee populations. These steps are a vital part of working together towards more inclusive communities, diverse leadership and stronger connections.
This initiative is led by SSSHARC fellows Dr Indigo Willing, a war orphan, skateboarder and Vietnamese adoptee, and co-facilitated with Dr Xavier Ho, an Asian Australian (non-adoptee), games and interaction design expert. Invited experts include Dislah De Rham, a Sri Lankan adoptee, Nicky Hammond, a Korean adoptee and guest speaker Dr Victoria Rawlings, DECRA Fellow (non-adoptee).
Program – Friday 8th November, 9am to 2pm
Invited guests only to this pilot program – please email indigo.willing@sydney.edu.au if you would like to keep updated on future events
Boardroom, Level 2, RD Watt Building, Science Rd (go through Ross St Entrance), Camperdown Campus, The University of Sydney
9am – Acknowledge Country.
Introduction to SSSHARC by Programs Manager Dr Aisha Malik, She/Her.
Overview of the day by Dr Indigo Willing, She/Her.
9.15 am – Special Guest and Workshop talk by Dr Victoria Rawlings, She/Her, DECRA and Consent Labs Sexual Education Research Project
10am – Session by Dr Xavier Ho, He/Him, Lecturer and Lead Curator Pride at Play (interactive games)
10.45am – Break
11am Session by Nicky Hammond, She/Her, Korean adoptee and breathwork/ coach (breathing workshop)
11.45am – Session by Dilsah De Rham, They/Them, Sri Lankan adoptee, LGBTI Legal Service Inc, Project Facilitator, DJ and Performer. Linkedin / Review of their play ‘Hey Siri, Unf*ck My Life, Vulcana Circus (somatic and creative workshop)
12.30 – Group reflection time facilitated by Dr Indigo Willing and Dr Xavier Ho
1pm – 2pm – Lunch together
Invited Adoptee Experts
Dilsah (They/Them) – Sri Lankan adoptee, Radical Development Community Worker and Multi-disciplinary Artist
Dilsah is a person with lived experience queer neuroexpansive community worker and artist based in Magandjin (Brisbane, Australia) with roots in Sri Lanka, Switzerland, and France. They are a multi-disciplinary artist whose work communicates personal growth through the reflection in their art.
Dilsah has a diverse background in theatre, dance, and visual art. They also work as a community development worker and counsellor, focusing on a queer Indigenous feminist perspective. They have been involved in various projects aimed at challenging taboos, such as violence towards individuals with intersecting identities, child trafficking, and societal gender norms. Dilsah is actively engaged in working with various community organisations that support minority groups. Additionally, they are working on their first autobiographical play. Instgram: https://www.instagram.com/dilsah.dildosa
Nicky Hammond (she/her) – Korean Adoptee, Breathwork Coach and NSW Social Events Coordinator for Intercountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV)
Nicky Hammond is a Korean transracial intercountry adoptee and Queer ally. She holds a double undergraduate degree in Interior Design, International Studies (majoring in French) as well as a Master of International Studies (majoring in Korean). Nicky has extensive experience working with government and non-profits in Sydney and internationally, particularly in the multicultural sector. As a certified Master Coach and Breathwork Facilitator, she now runs a business focused on holistic approaches to personal growth and healing, and balances this with her community work in women’s rights, culture, art, and youth advocacy. She was also awarded a 2024 ICAFFS Small Grant to develop a coaching and breathwork program for intercountry adoptees. In her spare time, Nicky enjoys spending time with family and serves as the NSW Social Events Coordinator for Intercountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV).
https://www.coachscoach.co/breathwork
Dr Indigo Willing (she/her) – Vietnamese adoptee, Skateboarding, Diaspora and International Adoption Studies, AVI Founder, SSSHARC Fellow and Workshop Co-Facilitator
Indigo is a war orphan, Vietnamese adoptee, skateboarder and has a PhD in Sociolgy. Being unstoppably dedicated to removing social barriers shapes her life’s work and pathways – with projects spanning anti-racism, queer leadership, as well as equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives for adoptees, refugees and for ‘non-traditional’ populations in skateboarding, urban cultures and creative sports. She is involved with a number of award-winning and internationally-recognised community projects. This includes the Queer-led networks Consent is Rad (an initiative of Respect is Rad) and We Skate QLD plus her recent Skate, Create, Educate and Regenerate (SkateCER) project as part of her fellowship at SSSHARC at The University of Sydney, where she is also a member of the HISS 2024/25 Queer Summer School program faculty. Indigo is also the founder of the Adopted Vietnamese International (AVI) network and the co-chair of Skateistan‘s International Advisory Board, who make skating and education accessible for children and others, particularly from war and conflict zones, in partnership with local skate groups from around the globe. Skateistan are also featured in a documentary which won an Academy Award in 2021. www.indigowilling.com
Others Involved (non-adoptees)
Dr Xavier Ho FHEA (he/him) – Lecturer in Interaction Design, SSSHARC Visiting Fellow in Sexuality Studies and Event Co-Facilitator
Dr Xavier Ho is an award-winning queer artist, interaction designer, game curator, and a first-generation Taiwanese migrant residing in Naarm–Melbourne. Xavier teaches interaction design and researches videogames and tabletop games at Monash Art, Design and Architecture. His research explores queer narratives in game design. Through curating and making games, Xavier seeks to understand their potential for queer storytelling. His work addresses a critically under-documented queer design history, in particular games from Oceania and the Asia Pacific regions.
Image: Cherine Fahd and Pamela Pirovic
Dr Victoria Rawlings (she/her) – Special Guest Speaker, Senior Lecturer and Fellow in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work.
Senior lecturer and DECRA Fellow at USYD researching education, gender, sexuality, violence and young people. Former AFLW and NSW/ACT Umpire. Co-Director and Co-Convener, Hunt-Simes Institute of Sexuality Studies (HISS), SSSHARC, University of Sydney (USYD).
Read more about Dr Rawlings’ sport then academic research journey here in USYD News.
Read more about Dr Rawlings’ and Prof Wallace’s research on sexual education with Consent Labs here
Sponsors/Supporters
The Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Network (SSSHARC) at The University of Sydney and Relationships Australia ICAFF Community Grant awarded to Dr Indigo Willing 2024. Additional collaborative research with Dr Xavier Ho, Monash University. Support from Prof. Lee Wallace, Director of SSSHARC and Dr Aisha Malik, Programs Manager, SSSHARC.
Additional thanks to inter-country adoptees Dr Jessica Walton, Dr Ryan Gustafson, Shaun Hardwick and the AUSKR Group for the early-stages of sound-boarding event and thematic ideas for adoptee resources.
Lands of Dharug and Wangal Peoples, Gadigal Country.
S k a t e CER 