UBL Webinar Recap: Balancing Leadership and Life – Sleep, Mental Health, and Wellbeing as a Blind or Vision Impaired Leader
On Thursday 11 September, United Blind Leaders (UBL) held its third webinar for 2025. In addition to a discussion about balancing leadership and life, it also included reflections on UBL’s participation in the recent world Blindness Summit.
Reflections on the World Blindness Summit
UBL co-founders Emma Bennison and Graeme Innes began the evening by sharing reflections on their recent participation in the World Blindness Summit 2025 in São Paulo, Brazil.
They highlighted the impact of UBL’s presentation on blind leadership, which included the launch of our pledge, adapted with permission from the National Federation of the Blind. The pledge encourages individuals and organisations to commit to increasing the representation and leadership of blind and vision impaired people across all industries and at every level.
Emma and Graeme also spoke about the strong global interest in UBL’s work, the recognition of NVDA as a world-leading screen reader, and the privilege of representing UBL on the international stage so early in the organisation’s journey.
Jonathan Mosen’s Keynote
The keynote speaker was Jonathan Mosen NZM, Executive Director of Accessibility Excellence at the National Federation of the Blind (US). Jonathan drew on his extensive leadership experience in executive roles, broadcasting, podcasting, and family life. He spoke candidly about the importance of self-care for leaders, the courage required to show vulnerability as a blind leader, and practical strategies that have supported his wellbeing, including:
Meditation – daily use of accessible apps such as Calm to lower stress and strengthen resilience.
Peer support and coaching – seeking mentoring and leadership coaching, and sharing struggles with other blind leaders.
Journalling – using the accessible app Day One to set daily intentions, practise gratitude, and process challenges.
Healthy boundaries – recognising the need to separate work and life, and not striving for perfection in every moment.
Sleep and diet – acknowledging the link between rest, nutrition, and mental health, while practising self-compassion.
Challenging negative self-talk – replacing destructive internal dialogue with kindness and constructive reflection.
Jonathan emphasised that leadership is both rewarding and demanding, and that leaders must be disciplined about looking after their own wellbeing in order to sustain their impact.
Panel Discussion
Following Jonathan’s address, Dr Pam MacNeill, Managing Director of Disability Responsiveness New Zealand, facilitated a wide-ranging panel discussion with Jonathan and Emma.
The panel explored practical approaches to balancing leadership and life, including:
Journalling to reduce stress and improve clarity.
Meditation and mindfulness.
Recognising that not every thought is true, remembering that other people’s opinions are none of our business and cultivating kinder self-talk.
Sleep management, including strategies for those living with Non-24 Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder.
Maintaining strong boundaries between work and personal life.
Managing administrative loads by breaking tasks into smaller, manageable steps.
Showing self-compassion and acknowledging that leadership is a marathon, not a sprint.
Emma shared her own experiences of burnout, anxiety, and the importance of sleep, highlighting that self-compassion is one of the most critical skills for leaders to develop.
Thank You and Next Steps
We extend our thanks to everyone who attended the webinar and contributed questions and insights.
Our next webinar will take place on Thursday, 11 December 2025. In the meantime, you can stay connected with UBL by joining our mailing list or following us on Facebook, X, Mastodon, and LinkedIn.
Watch and Read
Download the recording of the webinar
Read the full transcript of the webinar
Resources Referenced
UBL’s World Blindness Summit presentation: https://unitedblindleaders.org/wbu
Mosen at Large (Jonathan Mosen): https://mosen.org/welcome/
Access On Podcast (National Federation of the Blind, hosted by Jonathan Mosen): https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/access-on/id1777481188
Disability Responsiveness New Zealand (Dr Pam MacNeill): https://drnz.co.nz/
Disability Disrupters Podcast (Dr Pam MacNeill): https://drnz.co.nz/disability-disrupters-podcast/
Emma Bennison & Associates: https://www.emmabennison.com/
Day One journalling app: https://dayoneapp.com/