The Griffith University 1000 Voices Project was officially launched in December 2009.    Professor of Social Work Lesley Chenoweth had the vision for the project about ten years ago – initially as a way to generate good quality information for her research.   “I’ve worked with people with disabilities for many years and have always been struck by the power of people’s stories. As a researcher, my dream was to have a database of thousands of these stories.”   Professor Chenoweth said the project also had the potential to be a wonderful public awareness opportunity and help build an online community.   “As a society, we construct our own ideas of the lives of people with disabilities or their lives are interpreted for them. This is an opportunity for people with disabilities to tell their stories in media that suit them.”   The project aims to be inclusive of people with physical, sensory or intellectual disabilities and people from different cultural backgrounds and nations. Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, China, the United Kingdom and Ireland are already interested in the project.   Initial funding through the Q150 celebrations has enabled the stories of six prominent Queenslanders to be told. They include Jeffrey Finlay, an Indigenous artist from North Queensland; Emma Bennison, a singer /songwriter and acting executive director of Access Arts Inc: and Mick Meehan a renowned disabilities community worker.
  Professor Chenoweth said the project aimed to empower people with disabilities to tell their stories in a way that was accessible and meaningful to them.   “We can do video or audio recordings, people can write their own stories or we have artists such as Jeffrey who choose to tell their story through their art.”   “People with disabilities want ordinary lives such as a home of their own and a real job. A lot of people with disabilities also have artistic capabilities that we rarely think to explore,” she said.   At the centre of the project is a website www.1000voices.edu.au which invites people with disabilities and their families to upload their stories.    Professor Chenoweth said researchers will be able to extract qualitative information around particular themes such as education, employment, friends and home.