Hi, I’m Glen McMillan

About Glen McMillan

Lived Experience. Lifelong Determination. A Mission for Inclusion.

My name is Glen McMillan, and I am the CEO of Children with Disability NZ, a registered New Zealand charity committed to building a more inclusive world for disabled children and their families.

But my story did not begin in an office. It began with survival, adaptation, and learning how to live in a world that was never designed with disability in mind.

A life changed at age 10

Just after my tenth birthday, I had a serious bicycle accident that changed the course of my life.

I was not discharged from hospital until after my thirteenth birthday.

For nearly three years, I lived in hospital and was breathing dependent for much of that time. While other children were in classrooms, I was growing up in a hospital ward, surrounded by doctors, nurses, medical equipment, and adult conversations. I had no formal schooling during those years.

But I was still learning.

I learned differently.

I read doctors’ books. I asked questions. I absorbed knowledge from the adult world around me. I even helped fix respirators. My education did not come through a normal school system — it came through experience, observation, problem-solving, and necessity.

That unusual beginning shaped the way I think to this day.

Learning outside the normal path

When I eventually left hospital, I returned to life carrying far more than the effects of a disability. I also carried a different kind of education — one built on resilience, curiosity, and practical thinking.

I left hospital as a gifted child with a mind already trained to learn in unconventional ways.

I later left school at 16 after sitting School Certificate and went on to complete an apprenticeship in electronic repair. That pathway reflected who I had already become: practical, determined, hands-on, and deeply interested in how things work.

Why inclusion matters so much to me

My life experience taught me very early that disability can make people invisible in the eyes of society.

Too often, disabled children are not excluded because people are cruel. They are excluded because their needs have not been thought about at all. The problem is often invisibility.

That is one of the biggest reasons I do what I do today.

I believe inclusion should not be treated as a special extra. It should be part of how we plan, design, think, and build from the beginning.

That belief drives my work across multiple platforms, including websites focused on inclusive playgrounds, accessible environments, disability awareness, and practical guidance shaped by lived experience.

From lived experience to leadership

Today, I combine my lived experience of disability with more than 20 years of experience in website design and search engine optimisation to create platforms that inform, challenge, and inspire.

As CEO of Children with Disability NZ, I work to promote:

• inclusive playgrounds
• accessible public spaces
• disability awareness
• practical resources for families and communities
• stronger understanding of why lived experience matters

Everything I create is grounded in the belief that disabled children deserve the same opportunities for play, belonging, dignity, and participation as every other child.

Why my voice is different

There is a lot of theory in the world of accessibility.

What I bring is something else.

I bring lived experience.

I know what it means to adapt.
I know what it means to be overlooked.
I know what it means to find solutions because there was no other choice.

That is why my work is not based only on policy, trends, or textbook thinking. It is shaped by a lifetime of navigating disability in the real world.

The mission now

My mission is simple:

To help build a world where disabled children are not an afterthought.

A world where playgrounds are designed for everyone.
A world where accessibility is expected, not debated.
A world where lived experience is valued.
A world where inclusion becomes normal.

That is the work I have dedicated myself to — and it is the work I will continue to do.