(^4) ABCJuly 2019 busnews.com.au
needstobecarriedforabit,andwe
asacommunityweneedto...become
alrightwiththat...becausewedon’t
know...wedon’tknowwho’sgoing
tobeneeded,berequiredtodothe
carryingaweekfromnow.Andweas
acommunityarestrongerwhenwe
bringeverybodyalongwithus.
“TheTrack[Kakoda]...Iknowno
matterwhat’sinfrontofme,people
havedoneitharder...
“IknownomatterwhatchoicesI
makefromhereonin,IjusthopeI
makethechoicethatthey[parents,
supporters]wouldbeproudof.
“ButIalsoknowthat...weasa
community,wewillgetthrough
whateverhardships[are]there.
Becausewehaveactuallystrengthened
througheachofthosehardships.
It’showwearemade.Whenthings
falllowweallcometogetherand
wefigureitout,butalsomeasan
individualI’llgetthroughanything
that’sinfrontofmebecauseIhave
theabilitytolookupandaskforhelp
whenneeded.Itchangeslivesand
saveslives...”
Explainingwhoandwhypeople
stuckupforandsupportedhimin
hisyouth,Fearnley continued:“It
wasn’tjustmymumandmydad...
thatremindedmewhoIam,telling
meIwasstrong.In 1985 people
actuallyrebelledformetobewhoI
couldbe.In 1985 whenmyprincipal
andmyparentsweretoldthatI
shouldbeinstitutionalised...aguyin
hiswheelchairshouldbetakenout
andputintospecialschoolsanhour
away,myprincipalrebelledagainst
theDepartmentanddemanded
thatIshouldbeamemberofmy
community.
IGNITION FABIAN COTTER
Rebel with applause
Y
OU KNOW WHAT IS one of
the weirdest yet most
amazing sounds a bunch of
humans can make? And, no,
this is not some collective baked beans
appreciation society joke.
It’s the sound of heartfelt and
unusually long applause. I say
unusually long because, well, if you
are at such an event where rapturous
clapping breaks out, celebrating and
commemorating some outstanding
spectacle probably – tripping over a
garden hose and landing over a fence
into a neighbour’s flower bed, or
accidentally slamming into glass doors
repeatedly three times in a packed pub
convinced they were open (I’m still sure
they were) being excluded – there’s a
point we instinctively know when the
applause has to end.
And it does end, eventually. It has
to. Fatigue and general apathy will
kick in; the dying ‘pitter pattering’ of
palms drawing the cacophony into an
inimitable close. Yet it’s the duration
of the sound at its seemingly incessant
peak that gives some indication of the
value and impact something has had
on the audience.
When Kurt Fearnley spoke candidly
to BusNSW Conference attendees
recently at the 2019 event held at
Leura, in Sydney’s Blue Mountains,
about life without legs, his triumphs
and tragedies in a wheelchair (a gold
medal wheelchair racing at the Beijing
Paralympics, trekking nine hours uphill
along dirt and mud and tree roots
and rocks when tackling the horrific
Kakoda Trail – just because),
the applause he received lasted
about half a minute; 28.3 seconds to
be exact. Maybe.
Now at first that may not sound
like much until you hear it; what kind
of moron measures these things,
anyway? But after the audience had
listened to him intently, laughed with
him, shared in his joys on the big
screen, wiped tears from their eyes
slyly once his message was delivered,
that 28.3 seconds of standing ovation
in a once-quiet conference room was
truly remarkable.
INVOKING CHANGE
Only the night before had I been
speaking to a few bus operators about
the ups and down they face these days,
especially dealing with government
policy. One in particular, whom I cannot
name, shared their anguish at an
ever-changing government contract
that makes the bus operator now
seemingly accountable for the injury or
deaths of any school children that may
randomly run out onto the road when
dropping them off and getting hit by
oncoming, or rear-coming, traffic. So
instead of governments being proactive
and investing into new technology
to help prevent such unfortunately
inevitable (currently) incidents, it pretty
much sounds to me like some buck
passing of responsibility because it
all just becomes too hard to take on,
leaving the poor operator potentially
accountable for the unexpected actions
of surrounding traffic. What the...?
This is policy. This is law. This is
regulation. So how do you stop it?
How do you change it – especially with
automated vehicle technology (for cars
and trucks and buses to communicate
with each other well before any chance
of impact so they slow to a safe and
life-saving speed in certain areas) still
too far off to be fully implemented onto
our roads? Fearnley would make the
call: “We need more rebels...”
DO THE RIGHT THING
He said: “I can guarantee one thing,
[one day] we are all going to be me.
We are all going to be that person that
“...that 28.3 seconds of standing
ovation in a once-quiet conference
room was truly remarkable.”
When medal-winning wheelchair racer and 2019 NSW Australian of
the Year Kurt Fearnley inspiringly addressed delegates at the BusNSW
Conference recently – calling for “more rebels” – people listened.
grace
(Grace)
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