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The real power of the disability community, however, comes not in the big rally-round but in the slow accumulation of knowledge that accrues from bearing witness to each other’s lives. From meeting new people with a whole range of disabilities, I’ve learnt the importance of including the widest variety of access needs when I’m asked to give advice on accessibility. I’m now able to talk about hearing loops and good lighting alongside step-free routes and disabled loos.

So I’m getting on the front foot and making a small request to the people of Australia in this year of Dylan Alcott: please don’t judge me and other disabled people for not being as “in love” with our disabilities as Dylan is.

“We have to have greater representation of people with a disability absolutely everywhere,” he said.  “In our boardrooms, in our parliaments, in our mainstream schools, on our dating apps, on our sporting fields, in our universities, absolutely everywhere, so we get the opportunity to start living our lives, just like everybody else.

It is the first time in the annual awards program’s 62-year history that a person with a visible disability has been named Australian of the Year, according to the award administrators. “Standing ovations are one of the most ironic things in the world, by the way, but I’ll take them, without a doubt,” Alcott said when accepting his award on Tuesday night.

The goal of Ability Beyond Boundaries has always been to build a community which is welcoming to all people, regardless of their abilities, because everybody has their own abilities, and this diversity is beautiful.

Becoming an astronaut is out of reach for most people. But could the tough selection process be doing more harm than good? New space firm, Mission Astro Access, wants to challenge the perception that space travel is only for those who meet specific physical criteria, and has sent its first disabled crew on a zero-gravity flight.

Arts Access Victoria’s Caroline Bowditch offers ideas on how to not only welcome a new audience but include performers of all levels of ability, in order to make an event that everyone can attend. ‘It is really interesting to think that for so many people to experience the kind of isolation and the lockdowns that … Continued