The Travelling Para

Being featured as the cover story in Australia’s national disability magazine is something I never imagined when my life changed forever in Nepal in 2018. At the time, I was an avid traveller, always planning the next adventure. A spinal cord injury left me a T10 complete paraplegic and facing nearly two years in hospitals…

After experiencing my wheelchair being damaged or lost by airlines multiple times, I reached a point where simply being frustrated was no longer enough. Something needed to change. What began as a personal experience soon became a mission to raise awareness, share practical travel advice, and advocate for better treatment of wheelchair users and our…

If Airlines Can Report Lost Bags, Why Not Lost Independence? Every time I fly, I hand over far more than a suitcase. I hand over my mobility, my independence, and my freedom. Like many wheelchair users, I watch my wheelchair being often carried out to the cargo hold for what I hope is safe passage,…

For many of us who rely on a wheelchair, flying can feel stressful long before we even get to the airport. Add lithium batteries to the mix, and suddenly you’re dealing with watt-hour ratings, Dangerous Goods approvals, airline policies, removable batteries, and staff who don’t always understand the importance of the equipment they handle. And…

Over the weekend, I had one of those moments that genuinely stops your wheels. Like many mornings, I was sitting there with my double-shot oat flat white, checking emails and scrolling through LinkedIn, when a Qantas Group video popped up in my feed. I clicked on it without thinking too much about it. Then, out…

A “Wheels-On” Look at the Future of Boarding Today I had the opportunity to work alongside the accessibility team at Qantas to trial new automated boarding gates at Sydney Airport Terminal 3. This wasn’t a theory. This was real-world testing, from a full-time wheelchair user who flies regularly. And that matters. Because too often, accessibility…

The following is the essence of the speech I delivered at the recent ATSA Expo, hosted by Assistive Technology Suppliers Australia, the peak industry body for disability and assistive equipment providers. It’s grounded in lived experience and speaks directly to the realities wheelchair users face when travelling, the risks, the gaps, and what needs to…

Accessible in Name Only Sometimes you see something so ridiculous, so backwards, that you genuinely wonder whether anyone thought it through. A disability pick-up zone should be exactly that, a safe, practical place where disabled people can be picked up and dropped off without fear, hassle, or penalty. Yet here we are. A wheelchair user…

I recently had a really constructive and positive telephone conversation with Jordon Steele-John. We spoke openly about the realities of flying as wheelchair users, drawing on lived experience. And, as many of us would expect, one issue stood out straight away: wheelchair damage, and in some cases, loss during air travel. Let’s be clear…For those…