Rather, I was saddened by the commentary and negative coverage that followed. Essentially, assumptions were made about how I felt and that I must have been angered or enraged. I was neither.  While there’s no doubt the build-up of paper was a mistake, I would hate for this to overshadow all of the other excellent work that was done in the minutes and months prior to the event. Historically, little ol’ Brisbane has been leading the way by showcasing disabled designers and ‘daring’ to use disabled models on the runway. Yet when we were on the world stage, Australian Fashion Week had never evolved – until this year. It was such an exciting first and I was thrilled to roll along for this momentous occasion in Australian fashion history.  I’ve chosen to maintain perspective about the mistake. Yes it happened but there is something much bigger that happened this year which deserves our attention. The inclusion of disability in AAFW 2021 was a long overdue first for the Australian fashion industry and something that should be celebrated, instead of simply fixating on one mistake and incorrectly assuming that the rest of the event wasn’t inclusive.  Assumptions were also made that I (a disabled model) was not consulted before the runway show when in fact I had been consulted on multiple occasions. Yes, the mistake still happened but I’m not bothered by it. I moved on and urge everyone else to focus on what a positive this is for inclusivity.  Sure, getting my wheels stuck amongst the paper decorations on stage wasn’t ideal, but these little things happen and it didn’t tarnish the incredible show. If anything, ticket-holders got a bonus when designer Camilla Franks herself ran onto the runway to rescue me!  What most people don’t know is that I’d actually been working with IMG behind the scenes to ensure the event itself was as accessible as possible for the disability community.  Other brands and businesses can learn from IMG’s holistic inclusion strategy. They didn’t just put one wheelchair on a catwalk, tick the diversity box and be done. They had the input of various disabled people at multiple stages of the planning and event process.  It’s also become clear that many of those passing judgement on the finale had spent little or no time working in fashion, production or larger scale content creation (as I had prior to this show on many occasions). Things don’t always go to plan and that’s just the nature of the beast.   I personally feel the finale show was anything but performative inclusion. Considering this was the first year that Australian Fashion Week has ever included disability in the event, I know they did an excellent job. I was joined on the runway with other people with disabilities, including Paralympian Rheed McCracken.  I have been the tokenistic disabled model in runway shows before – ticking the diversity box – and this was certainly not the case at the finale. There were at least three visible disabled models backstage with me and I was thrilled.   I know what performative inclusion looks like and this was not it. IMG did a great job and I’d hate to see something as minor as excess paper deter IMG (or any other organisation) from trying to be diverse and inclusive of disability in the future.   I’m a business professional at heart so when I got stuck on the runway, my first frantic thought was absolute terror about how it would reflect on the businesswoman and label, Camilla. In the strangest of ways, I think this mistake became quite a beautiful moment that exemplifies a possible direction for Australia’s fashion industry. Consumers are increasingly demanding transparency and this was certainly authentic. If the finale was called ‘The Future Of Fashion’ then that’s what this was – a real moment. If 2020 taught us anything it’s that the unexpected happens.