Alcott pushes back against stereotypes

DYLAN Alcott doesn’t think his life is inspirational, and certainly doesn’t want you to think of him that way either.

The disability awareness advocate and three-time Paralympic gold medallist in wheelchair basketball and tennis was the guest speaker at Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine’s (TGGB) annual Heroes Luncheon at GMHBA Stadium last week, and gave an entertaining talk that veered frequently between laugh-out-loud hilarious and extremely pointed.

Alcott said his older brother putting the Foxtel remote on top of the fridge when they were growing up together taught him an important lesson – “it made me realise that if Zack didn’t care if I was in a wheelchair, then why the hell should I care that I was in a wheelchair?”

He was a promising talent in wheelchair basketball in his teens, and said it was a special experience to be on the podium with his triumphant team-mates at the 2008 Paralympics.

“At some point in our lives, we’d all given up hope… 99.999999 per cent of the population has no idea what it feels like to win a gold medal, and I’m so humble and lucky that it’s happened to me.”

Alcott brought along his gold medal for winning the men’s 2016 quad singles tennis title, and used it to make a point about people’s attitudes.

“All the medals have Braille on them, and the number one question I get from people is ‘hey Dylan, what does the Braille say?’ I don’t know, I’m not f***ing blind! People think when you have one disability, you have all disabilities.”

He said there needed to be more positive role models of people with a disability in the media.

“What if one of Hamish and Andy was in a wheelchair? What if Beyoncé had one leg? What if ScoMo was blind? Some people might think he is.

“I can get over a couple of stairs leading up to a lift, but the hardest thing to get over is a lack of expectation about what disabled people can do and want to do.”

TGGB is working with the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations on its Destination: Accessible project to make the Geelong region more accessible.