Advertising Feature
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
When I was asked to be the 2016 Patron of International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) I jumped at the opportunity to be involved as I am driven to alter people’s perceptions about what people with disabilities can achieve and how they can live fulfilling lives.
I believe the most difficult thing about having a disability is other people’s assumptions about what we can and cannot do.
People with disabilities just want the same from their lives as their able-bodied mates: we want to be successful, we want to travel, have families and maintain fulfilling relationships, live independently, be healthy, and to be financially sufficient.
I am often called “exceptional” or “inspirational” by random strangers for just doing the basic, menial, everyday life tasks like buying a coffee, working, going to a pub or shopping.
I want to live in a country where I can do these things which are necessary for my existence without a token high-five or praise.
I am happy to high five anyone for the fact that I was once a Paralympian or for being an exceptional keynote speaker, however I don’t appreciate or understand why I am being praised for buying Vegemite at Coles or for working to pay for my mortgage, food and sensational shoe collection.
Related content:
Would you find it weird if I came up to you on the street and called you “inspirational” for being out shopping?
I was born with a muscle wasting disease whereby I am missing some muscles and I need to use a wheelchair for longer distances.
I wasn’t born missing ambition or the desire to connect with others and to lead a fabulously successful, adventurous life.
I believe we have over-complicated disability and we have attached the concept of “risk” to every person with disability and this has often disabled us more than our disabilities.
Why is it “riskier” to employ somebody like me, simply based on the fact that I use a wheelchair to navigate the world and I happen to be missing my gluteus muscles?
I don’t think or speak with my gluteus muscles, do you?
Why is it riskier to have me as a passenger on a flight just because I walk a bit differently than the other passengers?
Some of these passengers are probably less fit, unhealthier, older or less intelligent than I am; however, nobody focuses on their strengths and weaknesses at check-in, they are simply treated like customers.
Why is it riskier to allow me to attend your school or educational institution?
Why is it riskier for me to attend a yoga class?
We will never cure disability or make the planet wheelchair accessible, however it is possible and achievable for us all to change our attitudes about disability.
An 18.3 per cent of Australians have some form of disability; however most of us are completely ignored by potential employers.
Did you know that Australia ranks 21st out of 29 OECD nations in regards to the employment of people with disability?
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Willing to Work Report demonstrated that employers assume that hiring somebody with disability will be expensive and complex, however it has been proven that to employ somebody with disability will cost the employer on average $500.
We have an exciting and unique opportunity now in Australia with the roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Through this scheme most Australians should receive the necessary supports and services required for them to get to the front doors of their homes.
But we all need more than a wheelchair or a support worker to be happy and fulfilled.
We can’t eat our wheelchairs and we want to feel connected to more people than just our support workers.
We need the community to start opening up its doors to us, to employ us, to treat us like customers and to reduce assumptions about what we can and cannot do.
I feel so honoured to be chosen to be the 2016 Patron of International Day of People with Disability as I truly believe Australians want to change the way we treat our fellow Australians with disability and we all have the ability to change our attitudes.
This Advertising Feature is sponsored by the following businesses. Click the link to learn more: