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Leaving Words from PDA’s illustrious CEO, Jeremy Muir:
“As previously stated on 16th February, I have resigned from my role as CEO of PDA, with this becoming effective on Friday 13th March 2026.
Having only been in the position for just over a year, I certainly did not envisage leaving so soon. My decision to resign was exceedingly difficult as I believe the work achieved by the staff of PDA over the last year has been exceptional, with webinars; submissions; a member’s survey; Social Hours; Physical Disability Awareness Day; presenting at conferences/forums; Senate Committees; with over a 1000 hours spent at meetings fighting the good fight. I’m exhausted just thinking about it all. We are a smaller DRO, but there is nothing small about our impact and influence. Natasha Nobay, Sarah McInnes and Trish Johnson have contributed so much to PDA’s status as a leading, truly national Disability Representative Organisation (DRO) and I cannot thank them enough for their work ethic, their commitment, their support and their friendship. They were the reason resigning was so difficult. I will miss their humour, their encouragement, and the fact that each of them are wonderful individuals.
It is important that I acknowledge that being part of a volunteer Board takes time, energy and commitment and I applaud those Board members who engaged with the work and direction of PDA and the support that these individuals showed to me. I will say that I take full responsibility for being unable to maintain a strong, trusting, collaborative working relationship with the full Board.
I am old, I am dispensable and I am replaceable, and for most I will become a distant memory. I have tried to do the best job I can for the PDA members and for people living with disabilities, with a focus on improving the rights across all areas for our cohort. I have tried to work with humility, with kindness and with honesty and to be true to who I am. I was never the smartest person in the room, but I strive to never be self-serving, cruel, or dismissive. You do not choose to work in the disability field for self-gratification or reward and certainly not for financial gain. You do so because you believe in the cause, you believe that people with disabilities deserve better rights, better access, better treatment, and better inclusion. This is what I have been fighting to achieve for 40 years (told you I was old).
One of the joys in my role was the opportunity to meet and collaborate with some brilliant advocates within the DRO space. I paled into insignificance when I was in their presence (mainly online); their intelligence, their advocacy skills, their strategic thinking, left me in awe. I could only dream of reaching their heights and I was honoured to sit amongst them representing PDA for the brief time that I did. One of my biggest regrets is not meeting them all in person, which is on me but fortunately the online meeting space still afforded me the opportunity to listen and learn and get to know them a little. For all this, I thank them.
As many of my DRO colleagues will know, working in this space does come with its challenges, which brings me to why I resigned. It is naïve of me, but when you take on any position, you do not expect to experience threats, bullying and lateral violence, and you certainly do not expect it to come from within your own cohort. You also do not expect inaction from those who can put a stop to it or prevent it. I am not as resilient as I once was, and I decided I did not want to continue working under those conditions.
I am not sure what comes next for me. I do feel as if a have let several people down, for which I am deeply sorry. I need to take some time to reflect and heal and to come to terms with my decision. We will see what happens when I come out the other side.
I will continue to support PDA and the important work that it does just a tad more quietly. Thank you for opportunity to represent our community.
Until next time, so long and thanks for all the fish.
Jeremy Muir“
