Dr Ayah Wehbe is a consultant and social researcher specialising in disability, deafness, and diversity. Her research experiences include inclusive methods, with particular focus on women and people with disability, and from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) communities. She has worked with various communities, organisations, researchers, people with lived experience, (sign language) interpreters and language translators; highlighting complex language, accessible communication and intersectional approaches to ensure empowerment of marginalised groups.

Ayah has been part of the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC), in UNSW Sydney, since 2017. She worked on several research and national evaluation projects including a Review of the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 (NDS), Peer Support Practice Review and making SPRC research reports accessible (e.g. co-designing Auslan videos with captions, easy read).

In 2019, Ayah started her Scientia PhD Scholarship at the SPRC (under supervision by Professor Karen Fisher, Dr. Ayshe Eli and Dr. Charlotte Smedley) which she completed in 2024. Her PhD topic focuses on intersectional experiences: the identity and belonging of Australian Muslim women with deafness. She used inclusive methods such as auto-ethnography, participation observation in community and social events and Auslan (Australian Sign Language) accessible interviews with deaf and hard of hearing Muslim women in Sydney. 

Ayah is currently working on a project titled Adding diversity to Auslan – developing an Islamic signs lexicon (with Professor Karen Fisher, Dr Shona Bates and Rebecca Cramp), funded by the Disability Innovation Institute UNSW (DIIU) Research Seed Funding 2026. 

She has connections to several networks and communities locally and abroad and has been invited to present her research and experiences at local events and international conferences. She also provides consultancy services for individuals, families, businesses, organisations and various projects; including basic Auslan and research/mentoring advice. 

Ayah also has spent a decade voluntarily organising events and creating awareness videos on social media.