About

Bridging the gap between support and access, together. Learn how ABB empowers people and communities across Australia.

About Us

Ability Beyond Boundaries (ABB) was created to bridge the gap between the support people with disability are entitled to and the support they can access.

We focus on Australia's multicultural and Persian-speaking communities, combining professional disability services with genuine cultural understanding. As a not-for-profit organisation and registered NDIS provider, one goal guides us in everything we do: helping people live independently, confidently, and connected to their community.

What We Do:
Beyond individual NDIS support, ABB runs community workshops, cultural activities, training initiatives, and a growing social enterprise arm. Together, these programs create a genuine ecosystem of support, connection, and opportunity.

Our Approach

We listen first before building support around the participant. We provide:

Practical, person-centred support
Culturally responsive care
Programs shaped by real community needs

No two participants are the same, and neither is our support. We take the time to understand each person’s goals, background, and circumstances before building a plan around them.

Annual Report

Board of Directors

Dr. Zhila Hasanloo

Founder, Executive Director and Board Member

Zhila is a disability advocate and Persian community leader with a PhD in Education from the University of Sydney. Drawing on her lived experience of disability, she promotes disability awareness, inclusion and mutual respect within the Persian Australian community. She advocates for the NDIS to empower people with disability to exercise genuine choice and control over their lives.

She sees great value in connecting the wisdom and traditions of ancient Persian culture with everyday life to foster understanding, tolerance and belonging. Through her inclusive leadership, ABB’s programs bring Persian people together across generations and abilities to learn, share their talents and contribute to community life.

Zhila has worked across government and non-government sectors. Her volunteer leadership includes board service with People with Disability Australia and three years as Chairperson of the Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association. Her PhD research used an arts-informed approach to create an educational bilingual radio drama about visual impairment.

Richard Silberer

Richard is a former electronics engineer and a board member of Ability Beyond Boundaries (ABB). A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, he worked with the Australian Defence Force and spent more than 20 years in Europe working in telecommunications, including with Siemens.

Living with multiple sclerosis (MS), Richard brings personal insight into the importance of accessible services, independence and meaningful community participation. He believes people with disability should have the support and opportunities to make their own decisions and pursue their goals.

Although not of Persian background, Richard shares ABB’s commitment to inclusion and cultural connection. He supports its programs and the opportunities they create for people of different generations and abilities to learn, connect and contribute. His involvement reflects a belief that respect and belonging can bring people together across cultural backgrounds.

Dr Nicky Hannan

A member of the board of directors at Ability Beyond Boundaries since 2023, Dr. Nicky Hannan combines expertise in education and the arts with a passion for community engagement, He holds a PhD and an extensive background in teaching at the University of Sydney. Apart from his advisory role, he has also contributed to the organisation through workshop facilitation and as the English-language MC at ABB events.

In his current role as an educational designer at the University of Sydney, Nicky specialises accessibility and the implementation of universal design for learning (UDL) principles. His work focuses on enhancing user experience (UX) to ensure educational materials are accessible to all learners, reflecting his commitment to inclusivity.

Dr Armita Adily

Armita has extensive experience in public health and health services research, focusing on specific needs of priority populations including people with disabilities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and Aboriginal peoples. Her work has informed policy and practice to improve services for children and adolescents with mental health problems, carers of children with hearing impairments, offenders with serious mental illness, vulnerable groups affected by domestic violence, and elderly people with hearing impairments at risk of loneliness and social isolation.

In her projects, Armita collaborates with diverse stakeholders-including the community members, service providers, policy makers and other researchers-to identify the specific needs of target populations. Through this collaborative approach, she co-designs and evaluates interventions to deliver improvements in health outcomes and equity. Armita’s academic pursuits extend to capacity-building initiatives to strenqthen the health

workforce. During her doctoral studies, Armita explored the capacity for evidence-based policy and practice in Australia’s population health workforce. She was also commissioned by Western Australia General Practice Education and Training (WAGPET) to assess the vocational training needs of medical doctors entering general practice. In addition to her research, Armita is a dedicated educator and mentor with teaching and supervision roles.

A proud member of the Iranian-Australian community, Armita is passionate about Persian literature and art. She has made contributions to the Persian-speaking community by creating ration programs focused on health promotion, Persian poetry and current affairs.

Advisors

Dr. Nuredin Mahmoodi

Over the past 12 years Nuredin has obtained a wealth of knowledge about issues of disability and disability rights as he has been part of several disability related projects. With the assistance of people with disability themselves and also having close collaboration with them, most of these projects reflect on the unspoken stories of people.

Nuredin has achieved his PhD in Philosophy of Education from Tehran University. In his Dissertation, his main focus was on a model on enhancing creativity and arts in education. As a proactive scholar, he has been involved in various projects like developing the creative mind of the children and also on empowering people with disability and he is an author of several books and journal articles on such topics.

Amir Madadi

Amir is a Software Engineer with a strong background in art and community activities. He has led several workshops in Sydney, including calligraphy, cybersecurity, and music performance. Amir has significantly contributed to the development and maintenance of community websites for organizations such as AICO (Australian Iranian Community Organisation), Aknoon Cultural Center, and the Persian Library, as well as for individual Iranian artists living in Sydney.

He has also organized Persian calligraphy workshops for the Farsi writing community and cybersecurity workshops for various groups, including MICS (Multicultural Integration Community Support). Amir has been an active member of several community organizations, including MICS and Aknoon, and is currently a board member of the Persian Library in Sydney.

Additionally, Amir collaborates with ABB as a community adviser, where he supports website maintenance and helps raise awareness for community events