The theme was "not all disabilities are visible" and Dr Byrne shared his experiences of living with profound deafness since he was a child.
He said one of the most frustrating experiences he had was combatting bias in recruitment.
"In my case I was well qualified and experienced; however recruitment panels were not looking beyond my disability, which made it very hard to get jobs unless the selection panel members already knew me,’ he said.
Dr Byrne said greater diversity in recruitment panels that put forward more than one applicant who met the selection criteria would help organisations achieve diversity while employing the most suitable people.
"A diverse workforce that represents the community it serves has a wider range of life experiences, greater productivity, better social cohesion within the workplace, and credibility with the community and stakeholders.
"All these things provide huge benefit to an organisation," he said.
