LivedX 1: Tim Lachlan - Developing Confidence in Yourself and Your Abilities LivedX 2020 (Auslan)

- [Voice over Tim] It's amazing what life lessons and experiences a wheelchair and concrete have brought me over the years. I've become the first Australian to land a wheelchair backflip. I've traveled to the United States to skate with some of the world's best WCMX riders. I've recovered from two mild traumatic brain injuries and the bullying that came with them. I've experienced both highs and lows. All the opportunities and experiences I've had wouldn't be possible if I didn't have disabilities. I'm thankful for these experiences because they have shaped me as a person. I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have this amazing sport. My name is Timothy Lachlan. I'm 23 years old. I have hypermobility spectrum disorder and autism. I'm a third-year occupational therapy student, wheelchair motocross rider, fabricator and disability advocate. I aim to help all people with disabilities live their best lives. And I believe that anything is possible if we adapt the task and the environment to fit the person. I love sport because it places the focus on our strengths. It proves that disability isn't shameful, that using a wheelchair is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. And in fact, it's quite the opposite. Wheelchairs enable us to participate in life. That's why I love WCMX so much. It takes the wheelchair, a device portrayed by the media to represent pain and suffering and it turns it on its head. It shows that wheelchairs can be used to achieve cool tricks and awesome feats, that the wheelchair is not a prison, but a tool to access freedom. I'm not saying that you have to throw yourself down the 10 foot ramp to gain confidence in yourself or your abilities. Just try pushing out of your comfort zone every once in a while. Push your limits and see what you're really capable of. Don't let people tell you that you shouldn't be out there enjoying life just because you have a disability. Getting involved in sport is a great way to build confidence and resilience. Sport helps you stay healthy and improve your strength and coordination, which benefits you in daily life. I was 11 before I got into WCMX. I relied entirely on wheelchair access. I couldn't wheelie or go down curbs or stairs. If you asked me if I could drop in, I would have noped right out of there. Now I can go where I want. I've dropped 13.5 foot vert ramps. I can roll over sand, gravel, rough terrain and steep hills. The environment can't hold me back now that I've learned advanced mobility skills. Once you begin to develop confidence in your physical abilities you tend to gain self-confidence over time too. Your self-esteem and belief in yourself improves. Your mood improves and you become more able to adapt to changes in your life with your newly gained strengths. The ability to adapt is a vital skill, especially for us people with disabilities. A harsh reality of having a disability is the lack of access in our built environments. Stairs, curbs, push-pull doors, steep ramps, are just some examples of access barriers we meet in daily life. I'm gonna demonstrate how people with a disability can overcome barriers in the physical environment, but also talk about why this skill alone is not enough. So I'm going to show how I access a 10 foot ramp that doesn't have access to the top, no stairs, nothing. It's at a really fun BMX park that also happens to be really inaccessible to wheelchairs. I start with the tree arborist technique and use a carabiner to weight the end of some thin line. I throw the line over the bar, this sometimes takes multiple attempts. Once I get the line and the carabiner back to me, I attach the rope, loop it over the top railing, and then I grab the free end and throw it over the transition side of the ramp. I then tie the loose end of the rope to my foot plate, I get out of my chair and I use what abilities I have to climb up to the coping and pull myself up. You may consider me inspiring for having climbed up a ramp and done a 10-foot drop in. Am I inspiring for adapting or am I inspiring because the inspiration comes from a place of pity? Do I remind people that they could be worse off, so to speak? Although it's cool that I can go to the skate park and use a tree arborist technique to climb up a large ramp, it doesn't address the underlying need for disability access to be built into that skate park to enable people with disabilities and other park users to access the full features of the park. Not every person with a disability will be able to climb ramps like I can, as level of disability varies from person to person. Depending on a person's needs, you would adapt this technique by using a climbing harness and a pulley and then climb up just like a tree arborist. However, access should not be something a person with a disability has to create for themselves. This is where universal design is key to solving this problem. People often think of access as this pesky thing that only a minority called, "People with Disabilities," need. And that's not the case at all. If we installed wheelchair accessible ramps to the main features of the park, not only would more people with disabilities be able to access the park, you would see the Curb-Cut Effect taking place. That is where park goers of all abilities use the ramps. Some would use the ramps to get access to the top of the vert ramp that they previously had to pump to get up to the top of. Beginners would ride down the gentle slope of the ramp to get a feel for the park, while also keeping them in a safe space away from advanced riders. In becoming accessible we encourage inclusion and we normalise disability. WCMX proves that people with disabilities can achieve what they want. Using a wheelchair isn't a bad thing. Our wheelchairs allow us to be active, take part in life and do cool tricks along the way. We're more than objects of inspiration and pity. We are people and our use of mobility equipment or our diagnosis doesn't make us any less human. And it doesn't mean we should be treated as any less human. I hope what I do demonstrates that people with disabilities are capable and can achieve their goals with the right adaptations and supports. Don't be afraid to speak up for your rights if you experience injustice. Remember to take an educational approach when asking for access or advocating for equality. People don't know better unless we teach them and we must teach them in a positive way so that they listen. Conduct access audits of local businesses, contact the council, your local member, make a petition, go into the Human Rights Commission. Do what you can to bring about change. We, as people with disabilities, have come so far in the last 50 years, but we still have a way to go. Remember that you are stronger than you think and disability gives you a unique perspective. Use it to your advantage. Take care of yourself and be well. ♪ Chill hip-hop music ♪