For Mish Kumar-Jonson, being inducted to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women is about ‘coming back to the communities they represent’.
“There’s so many non-binary people of the global majority who do incredible work – being the first is ridiculous. I’m really hoping this heralds in a change,” they told Indian Link.
“This is how we create history…we are language-ing into reality the history of our peoples.”
Growing up in Oman, they gave up a career as a professional tennis player to pursue social work after reflecting on the slow, intentional caregiving of their maternal ancestors.
“I think athletes live above the world a bit, especially back then. World issues are not seen as something athletes are supposed to be part of. Play your sport, essentially. I didn’t want that for myself,” Kumar-Jonson considers.
“I wanted my life to look like my grandmother’s, which was around community building… she did a lot of healing and sitting with community.”
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Having encountered the mental health and family violence sector first-hand, they wished for a place where folk with intersectional identities could be met fully, rather than the flattened, fragmented caricature the system asked them to present to access care.
“One of the things that I had wished [for] was someone who hadn’t seen me for just the brownness, for example, or the queerness. I was getting so annoyed…I remember I once told a therapist I’m a queer person, and she went, ‘oh, you’re queer and Indian, of course it was going to happen because your parents don’t accept you’,” Kumar-Jonson remembers.
“That caricature, being reduced to that one memory that people have; I wanted a space where people could share their story and be supported, not from other people’s imaginings of them, but just from the truth of who they are.”
The desire to hear and honour their community’s truth led to them founding The Iceberg Foundation, a community-driven mental health organisation providing equitable access to therapy for LGBTQIA+, multicultural and neurodivergent individuals.
Now running for three years, The Iceberg Foundation offers a welcoming and affirming space for people to journey back to their authentic self. The name ‘Iceberg’ encapsulates this mission, representing the rich individuality obscured under the demands of society.
“We are interested in what’s underneath the surface,” Kumar-Jonson says.
“A lot of people who come to work with us here only know 10% of themselves because it’s been shaped by the normativity of our society. We want people to be able to connect to who they are under that and reclaim their authentic selves.”
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At the heart of this entirely queer and neurodivergent-led service is a collectivist approach, shaped by liberatory, decolonial values and the need to embody the change they wish to see.
“When you come here, you don’t have to constantly explain your story. That’s not to say just because we’re part of the community we know your story, but that you are believed because we are also here – that Zulu philosophy of ‘I am because we are’,” Kumar-Jonson explains.
This aim is visible in initiatives like the Manaya Pride Program, where forcibly displaced LGBTQIA+ folk can connect over monthly dinners and access free counselling.
“We come from collectivist cultures… it’s [about] coming back to who we are and the roots of liberation practice. Over centuries, how we’ve been able to liberate ourselves has never been to do it individually,” they say.
Driven by a sense of generosity, for Mish Kumar-Jonson, seeing their organisations’ radical compassion transform people’s lives is payment enough.
“A lot of people struggle with why we don’t do it for profit; so many people go ‘but you could make so much money’. Great – and then what has changed in the world?” they reveal.
“Someone said the other day, I didn’t want to get up off the couch, but I came to this dinner because I knew I’d be seen and held here. People have said, ‘I’m finishing up therapy because I’m living my life the way I want. I think that’s huge.”
Mish Kumar-Jonson
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Mish Kumar-Jonson hopes being inducted to the Victorian Honour Roll for Women will encourage the wider community to see difference as a strength and recognise the vibrant contributions of non-binary folks all around them.
“I think it’s a step into understanding it’s not ‘women can do this and men can do this’ – there are many humans that come in all shapes, sizes, genders, sexualities that can do incredible work within, by, and for their community,” they conclude.
“This [honour roll] is the longest standing celebration of women and non-binary people in the country. I think there is something special about that – it means we are moving towards seeing non-binary folks as peoples with culture, history, joy and passion.”
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