Having a disability is a natural, normal part of society. It can happen to anyone

Dylan Alcott (right) with Heath Davidson during a parade to welcome home the Australian Paralympic Team in 2016. Photo: Paul Jeffers

Dylan Alcott will be a keynote speaker at the August ‘AACS 2018 Convenience Leaders Summit’  in Melbourne ….. more details to come on this terrific event!

Dylan Alcott
DECEMBER 2 2017
The Age

I’m not going to sugar coat it, living with a disability is at times really tough. Growing up, I remember the anxious feeling of not fitting in, having to sit on the sidelines watching friends do whatever they wanted, run wherever they wanted, while you had to sit there wishing that you could keep up, but you couldn’t. The feeling when people used to call you names, like a cripple, or spastic, and you started believing them, making you embarrassed of the fact that you were different. 

But as I grew older, I slowly started to love the fact that I had a disability. I started being PROUD of the fact that I had a disability. And why wouldn’t I be? Everyone in life wants to be different. They wear different clothes, have different hairstyles, drive different cars and have different jobs. People make decisions all the time that separate them from the crowd. So what better way to be different than to have a disability, as long as I could harness the positives to be the best version of me? 

But as I progressed through life, I learnt that for the vast majority of people with a disability this wasn’t the case. I would get really surprised when people did not admit they had a disability, even though they clearly did. I often, to this day, still see people share their stories and say that “my whole life, my family and friends have taught me that I didn’t have a disability”, and to tell people that they aren’t in fact disabled. Why? Because being disabled means you’re broken, less capable, unemployable and un-dateable. I hate it when people say this, because it means they are embarrassed to say they are disabled.

I still get confused why countless Paralympians call themselves “Olympians”. They didn’t go to the Olympics, they went to the Paralympics, and what’s wrong with that? That is nothing to be embarrassed out. 

Why don’t people want to admit to themselves that they have disabilities? Why are they afraid?

And the answer is simple. Unfortunately, when you do, society immediately places limitations on what they believe you can achieve. You immediately can’t do the work of an able-bodied person. You immediately are less productive or skillful. You immediately minimise the chance of getting meaningful work. And for many, you rule yourself out of the dating world as well.

And to me, that sucks and makes me sad. And the worst part, these misconceptions are completely and utterly not true. 

Having a disability is a natural, normal part of society. It can happen to anyone, at any stage, even to you reading this. No one is immune. Disability does not discriminate. 

But contrary to what many of the able-bodied world may think, having a disability isn’t a death sentence either. I have spent my life, and through my new disability and accessibility training start-up Get Skilled Access, changing the way we perceive people with disability in our community, to normalise disability, and to alter the existing negative stigmas and prejudice into positives. 

I want people all around this country to feel comfortable to be able to say they are disabled. I want them to be proud of their abilities and differences, and be able to get out and live the happy and successful lives that they deserve to live. I want them to be able to shop, travel, work, laugh, live and love just like everybody else.

But in order to do so, we as a society need to continue to further our expectations of what people with disability can actually do. We need to stop over-complicating disability. We need society to employ us, treat us like customers, and not be afraid to start a conversation. 

It is an incredible honour for me to be named the 2017 Patron of the International Day of People with Disability. I hope I can give the position the justice it deserves.