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 of nowhere, Andrew Monaghan personally mentioned me.
I honestly did not know what to think. I was shocked, honoured, humbled and, if I am being truthful, emotional.
After everything life has thrown at me, twenty-three months in hospitals and rehab after my spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, rebuilding my life, and learning how to live and travel again from a wheelchair, I did not think much could truly stop me in my tracks anymore. But this did.
The video discussed Qantas’ seven employee communities, accessibility, inclusion, diversity, veterans, First Nations communities, sustainability, and belonging. What hit me most was not what was said. It was that it felt genuine.
Over recent months, I have had the pleasure of speaking with and working alongside people inside Qantas, particularly around disability inclusion and accessibility. What I have found is simple: good people who care, listen, learn and act. Not corporate talk. Not lip service. Real conversations, real effort and real change.
I have been open about my frustrations with aviation and wheelchair travel. Truthfully, even as someone who once proudly worked for Qantas as an Aircraft Engineer, there was a time when I refused to fly with them because of past experiences and concerns about where things were heading. That has changed because there are good people inside Qantas working hard to make things better, not just for me, but for every person living with disability who wants to travel.
Because when wheelchair users fly, we hand over far more than equipment. We hand over our independence, our dignity and our freedom. For all intents and purposes, we hand over our legs.
Knowing there are people inside Qantas who genuinely understand that makes an enormous difference.
So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. What you are doing matters more than you probably realise.
Read more: Honoured, Humbled… A Moment That Truly Stopped My Wheels