From 12–14 December 2025, EI Fellows, staff and partners from across Southeast Asia and China came together in Bangkok for a three-day co-creation workshop focused on disability-inclusion for health equity. Participants worked collectively on two closely linked priorities: building out an Easy Inclusion Toolkit and shaping a draft 5-Year Strategic Roadmap for Disability-Inclusive Health Equity.

Both pieces of work are intended to support a shift from intention to action. The Easy Inclusion Toolkit brings together practical guidance, tools, and examples to help organizations better integrate disability inclusion into day-to-day work. The draft 5-Year Strategic Roadmap sets out a shared direction for the next phase of CMB/EI’s disability inclusion work, outlining goals and priority actions for embedding inclusive leadership across the fellowship and EI’s wider partnerships in Southeast Asia and China.

Participants were invited to reshape them while bringing in lived experience, local context, and on-the-ground realities to make sure both tools remain useful.

The workshop was a collective effort amongst Tran Quynh Trang (2022, Vietnam), Haibin Zhou (2022, China), Clive Tan (2022, Singapore), Ken Chua Tsai (2024, Singapore), and Gao Song (2024, China). Drawing on their own experiences and regional work, they facilitated sessions on the current landscape of disability and health in Southeast Asia and China, shared case studies, and guided participants through mapping key stakeholders, assets, and alliances. These conversations helped build a common understanding of where change is already happening—and where deeper, more coordinated action is still needed.

Hands-on sessions on the Disability Inclusion in Health Equity Toolkit were led by EI Fellow Ken Chua Tsai. Participants reflected on real-world scenarios and what makes inclusion work in practice. The discussions surfaced both practical successes and ongoing challenges. Throughout the workshop, participants shared reflections on their own journeys into disability inclusion and exchanged experiences from across the region.

Part of the workshop also focused on CMB/EI’s draft 5-Year Strategic Roadmap (2026–2030). Through open discussion and consultation, participants explored the roadmap’s vision and strategic pillars, asking what leadership on disability inclusion for health equity should look like in practice, and what CMB/EI must prioritize to play a meaningful regional role. The roadmap positions disability inclusion as a core, non-negotiable element of health equity, rooted in long-term systems change rather than one-off initiatives.

With Fellows leading the process, an emphasis on lived experience, and space for honest dialogue, the convening prioritized shared ownership. The workshop closed with forward-looking conversations led by Haibin Zhou, focusing on next steps, including continued refinement of the Strategic Roadmap and Easy Inclusion Toolkit, deeper integration of disability inclusion into CMB/EI programming, and a dedicated thematic session at the Annual Forum.

As the workshop came to a close, Ken Chua Tsai noted that ‘Fellows gathered through both passion and interest to build more disability inclusive societies across the region, and we have just started to plan on harnessing our collective energy towards greater action and impact. We invite any fellows who might have an interest in disability inclusion (regardless of experience in the space) to come learn and journey alongside us!’

Reflecting on the broader significance of the work, Trang Quynh Trang also shared ‘I feel truly lucky to work on disability inclusion and grateful to CMB for giving us the space to speak up… I realized we are not just part of the movement- we are the movement. Together, with partners and stakeholders who care deeply, we are committed to turning ideas into action and building a more inclusive future for everyone across Southeast Asia and China.’