Changing Attitudes Changes Lives
11 February, 2017
The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club prides itself on inclusion of all in the sport of sailing and on Friday 10 February the club, along with ANZ Bank, hosted a charity lunch for the Attitude Foundation raising awareness for social integration of those living with disabilities.
More than 80 guests attended the lunch where chairman and founder of the Attitude Foundation and former Australian Disability Commissioner, Graeme Innes opened the talks by presenting the aim behind the Foundation and outlining the social change which needs to occur to promote better lives for those living with disabilities.
“The Foundation aims to promote change through their own stories, stories of those doing work, doing sport and doing life.
“These stories will help create a better understanding of what it’s like living with a disability that will change people attitudes and remove the barriers to promote inclusion in both society and the workforce.“ Graeme Innes said.
Five time Paralympic medallist in both wheelchair basketball and sailing, Liesl Tesch spoke of the importance of the role sport plays in the promotion of change.
After suffering from an accident when she was 19 Liesl told of how her discovery of wheelchair basketball opened her eyes to what she could achieve living with a disability.
This passion for wheelchair basketball led to Liesl winning silver at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, Silver in 2004 Athens Paralympics and Bronze in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. From there her passion and competitive spirit propelled her into the sport of sailing.
Meeting Daniel Fitzgibbon at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club the pair teamed up and with the help of club members developed the award winning Integrated disAbled Sailing Program (IdS) which strives to encourage and assist sailors from all walks of life to participate into the club’s regular sailing program.
The christening of Another Challenge - Dan Fitzgibbon, The Hon. Bronwyn Bishop and Liesl Tesch
Daniel and Liesl won gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics and the 2016 Rio Paralympics in sailing along several world and national championships in between.
Amongst all these sporting achievements and a career as a high school teacher Liesl still found the time to promote the message of inclusion through sport in countries like Kenya, South Africa and Napal which led to the foundation of the organisation SportMatters which goes by the motto “For Everyone. For Life.”
Liesl expressed her gratitude for all the support she and Daniel Fitzgibbon have received without which they couldn’t have achieved their goals.
“Sport is a great medium for social inclusion, I had knowledge that we could create new things which has driven me to do what I’ve done but it couldn’t have happened without the support from others, I do thank the RPAYC for all the support and effort from all the volunteers and members, it’s been an incredible contribution to our two gold medals.” Liesl said.
As ambassadors of the IdS program, Paralympic gold medallists, Leisl Tesch and Daniel Fitzgibbon have expanded the program to branch out to other organisations and community groups including Sailability Crystal Bay and Australia’s Soldier On organisation which assists in integrating the country’s veterans into civilian life.
As evident through the work of the Attitude Foundation and the RPAYC it is important that identities like Graeme Innes, Liesl Tesch and Daniel Fitzgibbon continue telling their stories to create effective change.
For the bigger picture the Attitude Foundation seeks to spread the message and encourage others to tell their story. In doing so the Foundation is raising money to produce a TV series to air on the ABC to show the stories told by those living disabilities. To donate visit www.attitude.org.au
For more information about the RPAYC IdS program visit www.rpayc.com.au
By Stephen Collopy
RPAYC
