A Celebration of Invacare’s Community Bloggers – by Geoff Trappett OAM
I have been given the great pleasure of writing Invacare's 60th community blog. That is 60 pieces written by disabled people for disabled people. Pieces where we could be learning from each other, we could be imparting knowledge which is common sense to a disabled person onto the 80% of the population without and ideally a little of both.
It's often said that ‘the disability community is a broad church.' Often meant to indicate that we come at issues from many angles. As we further inclusion and full citizenship of disabled people I also see this statement as meaning we could be your accountant, your teacher or your Doctor. In this vein, Invacare has sought out the voices of a diversity of disabled people to share their lives with you.
Whether it be:
● Jess Cochran, a proudly queer and disabled performing artist,
● Tyrone Cook, a man of great creativity who lives with complex disabilities and is a proud man of faith,
● Susan Seipel, dual sports Paralympian and most famous for kicking the old, retired butt of this author on the Para Ice Hockey arena,
● Eliza Stankovic-Mowle, a mother, Paralympian and author,
● Ian Walker, who mixes ultra long-distance handcycling with life coaching,
● Marlena Katene, a woman possessing rare determination to reach the mosh pit at every concert, that frankly scares me,
● or, Alicia Kappa, a communications professional who created Wheely Wacky Adventures to show that a disabled life was anything but boring.
We are diverse. We are human. We are your community.
As we write each of these blogs, we hope you are entertained, we hope you learn but we also learn ourselves as we are forming our thoughts and as we read about each other's lives.
Whether it be reworking how we think of new year’s resolutions from Eliza, learning Ian’s thoughts on his carer’s place in his life and his ever-evolving relationship with them, to dealing with lockdowns with Alicia - as we share a part of ourselves we grow also.
In short, it means something to us. I heard from my fellow bloggers that it's an honour, that it's been therapeutic, but overall that it's crucial that disabled people are at the center of conversations that are about them. It's important that we control the narrative.
When I asked what each of my fellow bloggers was hoping to achieve this year both within their blog and outside it was largely a story of change. They talked of expanding both their horizons as individuals to bigger and better things, showing by doing, and just as important, expanding the horizons of what a person without disability thinks of someone who lives with a disability, be that visible or not. Expanding their views on how we can contribute, on how we can take part, on what part they need to play in welcoming us into a world that is all too often not built for those living with a disability.
Now you have met us. Seen us. Enjoyed our stories there is no doubt we are here to stay. However, the days of awareness of disabled people being the standard we shoot for are over. We are here, we are proud. The time of action has now come. Actions that move the needle on our rates of employment, our access to healthcare, housing, and transport. The disabled community will only ever make up 20% of the population. We have done our part in being present and proud. Now we need the 80% of the population remaining to play their part.
About the author: Geoff Trappett OAM is a former Paralympic Athlete. With a career that spanned 2 world championships, 2 paralympic games, a gold medal in Sydney 2000 and a world record. Following on from sport Geoff has transitioned to working professionally in multiple senior executive roles in the disability sector both within disability service providers and disabled person run advocacy organisations. Now leading his own social policy change organisation Inclusion Moves developing inclusion and diversity plans in the corporate world and speaking out on human rights and disability inclusion related issues.
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