The difference between access and inclusion is what advocate Martin Butcher wants people to focus on during the International Day of People with Disability.
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The Regional Disability Advocacy Service executive officer said employment rates for people with disability hadn't improved in the past decade.
"We're still living in a community where 53 per cent of the population of people with disability still are not employed," he said.
"Even the public sector has shrunk in the number of people with disability employed.
"How can we be more inclusive as a community?
"Access is where you put a ramp in, but you don't get inclusion until a community welcomes people with disability.
"They have gifts, talent and ability, and once you tap into that, they become great employees."
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, flexible hours, specialist equipment or modifications and support people are among the most common employment needs for people with disability.
However, the AIHW People with disability in Australia report also found that the majority of the community do not require additional support.
Eighty-eight per cent of employed working-age people with disability and 82 per cent of unemployed working-age people with disability do not require additional support from their employer to work.
Mr Butcher said the strengths of people with disability would be celebrated at a cross-border event to mark the International Day of People with Disability, with Dylan Alcott appearing virtually for a Q&A.
"It's not that people with disability are inspirational; they are ordinary people who want ordinary lives," he said.
"They want to be a mother, to be a father, to have a job."
Mr Butcher said the event was the culmination of significant planning by both councils and their access and inclusion committees.
"When you listen to Dylan Alcott, he talks about how being a member of a Paralympic team gave him a feeling of belonging and purpose.
"He rose up through the ranks of he Paralympics and now he's an advocate.
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"He promotes what we want to promote; that people with disability can not only come from being a nobody to a somebody, but to actually being a leader in the community."
More than 100 people attended RDAS' annual event in Wagga on Wednesday night, where Paralympic swimmer Ashley van Rijswijk was guest speaker.
- Tonight's online event featuring Dylan Alcott and local performers Oliver Hunter and Josh Campbell begins at 5.30pm. Visit Wodonga Council's website.
