Hey everybody!

This year I was invited to give a talk about my journey recovering from two separate spinal cord injuries (SCI) by Geoff Purtill, Invacare Vice President Global Strategy and General Manager Asia Pacific, at the recent 2021 ATSNZ Disability Expo held in Auckland, New Zealand. 

At the event I was talking with Sankesh Chetty, Invacare Business Manager New Zealand and Marketing Manager Australia New Zealand, when he made the first exciting and humbling suggestion of appointing me an Invacare Ambassador. 

To say I was a little bit gobsmacked is a wee understatement! Me an ambassador?! In fairness, I have had an involvement with Invacare since about 2011 when I chose a Küschall R33 manual wheelchair, (an awesome chair by the way), that I still have and use today. I was then extremely fortunate to be offered a sponsored equipment agreement with Geoff Purtill after I approached Invacare in 2017 for sponsorship for that year’s TCS New York Marathon. 

Geoff generously supplied me with a TopEnd Force 3 handcycle for the marathon and beyond. This association became invaluable to me when I suffered my second SCI when run over by a 4WD while out on the Force 3. Having survived that ordeal with vocal support and encouragement from Geoff, Nick Heyworth and the Invacare team I replaced my ‘destroyed’ TopEnd Force 3 with a flash, sleek and decidedly lighter Neon Green TopEnd Force RX handcycle named ‘Kermit’.

You may have picked up on a common theme by now and yes, it is my adoption of Invacare products to assist me in achieving all manner of things in my ongoing rehabilitation from my latest accident. 

But why Invacare? What makes them stand out? One of my initial reasons for becoming interested in Invacare was their core values – Yes, You Can emblazoned on much of their branding below the Invacare logo, which epitomised the belief and mindset of a good number of those wearing a disabled label. That is: do not place limits on yourself before even trying something. 

There may well be many others of a similar ilk who, through their positive attitude, have achieved things you may have considered trying but have never attempted. However, with the inclusion of Invacare products they now have the means of "Making life’s experiences possible". There are a number of guiding values of Invacare that I have recognised as similar to my own and which basically say, ‘do not let what you cannot do, stop you from doing what you can’.

Being closer to the sixty-year milestone triggered a thought when the initial ambassadorship discussion was held; I am hardly going to break records in my chosen sport of handcycling so what value do Invacare place in making me an ambassador? 

Let’s face it, a Paralympian I am not… well, not yet! Sankesh put it this way ‘Invacare doesn’t only place value on the achievement of records or medals, as beneficial as that may be, they value how people face and recover from adversity, who persevere in the face of seemingly indomitable odds and achieve despite it. To say Yes, I Can! My journey so far provides all this and more, Sankesh has noted. He’s added ‘to see me come back from where I was to where I am now and where I could get to in the future, Invacare sees me as a valued addition to their list of ambassadors’.

So, as I see it if what I try to do, to focus on and persevere with, and lock ‘wheel’ (not step!) with Invacare and their values, helps inspire and/or motivate someone with or without a disability to try something they’ve thought about trying but haven’t as yet - then I’m happy to wear that mantle and make what was an easy decision (and an absolute honour), to be an Invacare Ambassador. 

About the writer

Ian Walker is a C6 Quadriplegic Incomplete. Ian lives in Christchurch, New Zealand and has survived 2 separate spinal cord injury-related accidents over the past 14 years. He is a Motivational Speaker who talks about - how to face adversity, cycle road safety, living with a disability, being a 1 percenter . . .

Ian also enjoys life coaching which he utilises through his business BMotiv8d, to assist those with a disability, (or without), who lack motivation, direction and/or confidence, those who feel disorganised or unfulfilled, and/or those who need encouragement or need to set priorities, on how to realise their true potential.