His inspiration yielding results
Barely a month on from being named Australian of the Year for 2022, the ripples of Dylan Alcott’s influence and inspiration are being felt far and wide.
When tennis star Dylan Alcott, a Melburnian, made history by becoming the first person with a visible disability to be named Australian of the Year last month, he immediately raised awareness about accessibility.
“I thought I was no chance and then I got here and I saw this really good-looking ramp and I thought, ‘I might have a chance here’,” he quipped in his acceptance speech.
Alcott has famously crowd surfed in his wheelchair at music festivals and created Australia’s first accessible and fully inclusive music festival, AbilityFest.
He has pledged to use his platform as Australian of the Year to change perceptions “so people with disability, people like me, can get out there and live the lives that they deserve to live”. Read more >>
Paralympics Australian recently commented “With Paralympian Dylan Alcott named Australian of the Year, our Australian Paralympic Team’s tremendous success at Tokyo 2020, Brisbane 2032 locked in and now this encouraging Commonwealth Games bid (by Victoria for 2026, this is a truly wonderful time for Australia’s Paralympic movement and Australian sport in general.”
Around the country, stories are being reported on social media and in local newspapers of kids living with disability who want to play tennis, who want to be like Dylan.