Beau Vernon

1. Tell us a bit about your background and some of the things that fill your time. 

Growing up I wasn't exposed to the disability community. I love my sport; sports have always been a huge part of my life. I played football at a high level, and state-level basketball. I won state medals in athletics and surfed most nights after school and work and stuff like that. Just any sport, I loved it.  

At the age of 23, I dislocated my neck playing football and was in rehab for a year. That was 12 years ago. I was thrown into the disability world from then on. I've got no movement from my chest down. I can't move my fingers at all. I've got no tricep muscle and very limited chest muscle. So, essentially what I do have is my biceps, my shoulder and neck muscles and I’m very fortunate that that allows me to still be able to get around in a manual wheelchair and still live an independent life. I can get up by myself, shower by myself and do everything by myself. I'm very fortunate, you know, to drive and do all these things. 

When I got out of rehab, I played wheelchair rugby for a couple of years. I got back into university, finished a business degree and started working at the AFL. I got to the stage where I was playing with the Australian team for wheelchair rugby, but at the time I just couldn't make it work around uni and work. 

I went down and watched my football club play their last game of the season at Leongatha, and I decided to apply for the senior head coaching job there. I coached senior grade football for eight years, quite successfully. We had six full seasons at Leongatha and after a few years, I coached Phillip Island as well. Six years, six grand finals, three premierships and the clubs managed to go quite well. 

I am involved in a company, Interact Australia, which helps people with disability get work by connecting them with companies who are diversifying their workforce. I'm so passionate about this work because I felt pretty lost in life and did not have much confidence in myself prior to getting that job at the AFL. It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that I can still contribute to society and live a really good life. I think the best way to break down barriers is to be exposed to it. If you're working with someone with a disability, it normalises having a disability. So, it is something I'm very passionate about.  

I do a few other things for work, including a fair few talks for organisations and schools.  

In terms of sport, I've gotten back into kayaking, surfing, and golf post-injury; all a little bit different to what I used to do. Wheelchair rugby has also come back on the agenda, obviously. I’ve just gone to the Paralympics with that. We won a bronze medal and that takes up a lot of my time.  

I've got three young kids who are eight, six and four. I run around after them a lot and love my family. I’m very fortunate there. 

2. What was the experience of going to the Paralympics like? Was there anything that surprised you compared to the other professional sport you’ve played? 

It was obviously a fantastic experience. The highlight of it for me was to be able to play and perform in front of my kids in packed-out stadiums. 

The French really got behind the Paralympics. I suppose I'd never been before and you do question ‘are the locals going to get behind the Paralympics?’ but it was packed out stadiums and awesome, awesome vibes. Our second game, we actually played France and the crowd was just going nuts. It was so cool. 

I loved the Paralympic village. Everyone is so unique and has their own stories and comes from such different backgrounds. I just loved that experience of just seeing so many different people with different disabilities.  

The closing ceremony was very moving for me. There were 80,000 people packed in a stadium just going absolutely crazy, cheering for everyone that was there. It took my mind to people that have had a disability for a lot longer than me and might have had a lot of challenges through their youth because they were different, people that may have been discriminated against or bullied. And here they are in front of 80,000 people who are just cheering for that diversity, the adversity that people had faced, their persistence and celebrating their strengths. I really enjoyed that moment.  

And even for myself who probably hasn't experienced that in my life, I definitely have had thoughts that maybe I'm less of a father because I can't kick a footy with my kids or shoot a basketball with them because I don't have the muscle function. And then to have 80,000 people just cheering for all of our strengths was amazing.  

3. How did you get involved with TOM? What was your challenge? 

I did a presentation at Giant Steps, which is a school for high-needs, non-verbal kids with autism. Someone at that event was connected to TOM and they got me involved with the program. 

I wanted to play at least nine holes of golf. Obviously there's challenges there, not being able to move anything from my chest down and no finger function and all that. Our challenge was to come up with a solution so I could hold a golf club and be able to change it on my own. By the end of the weekend, we had a prototype which I could use. More work was done afterwards to create an even better version, which I got at a later date.  

Image description: Beau swinging a golf club, supported by a stand-up manual wheelchair

I am able to play 18 holes of golf. I can only hit the ball about 100 meters. But I still think with my muscle function, that's pretty cool and pretty good. I can go out and play with my family or mates, which is something that they do for a bit of fun.  

One big thing for me is that you can be confined, being in a wheelchair. As my old man once said, there is a concrete jungle of paths to accessible areas. So, to be able to get out into nature, grass and water and onto the golf course was a really nice thing for me.  

4. What was your experience being part of the TOM: Melbourne Makeathon Program? 

You've just got all these volunteers that are helping people with disability. And for me, they are such amazing people and it makes you want to be a better person as well. The overall experience of being there with people who are just volunteering their time to help you makes you motivated to make the most of your life. So, it was a fantastic experience to be a part of and one that I remember fondly. 

5. Have you created any solutions for yourself over the years that have helped you in everyday life? 

I have a little thing that goes around my pen so I can slide two fingers in and I'm able to write a lot easier, so that was a lifesaver when I was at university. They were talking about having a scribe do that for me, which I wasn't big on. I wanted to be as independent as I could. You know, if I could do it and it wouldn't take me a million times longer than what it would usually, then I'd want to do that myself. So, I've got to a level where I can write just as good with the splint on as what I'm used to. 

Another one was that I got back out surfing and I managed to come up with a surfboard that has two propellers under it. It has Bluetooth to the watch that I wear on my wrist. I've got some padding down the side and around my elbows I can lean into to turn the board and make sure my legs stay on the board as well. That was a huge thing for me as well. 

Another little thing is just to be able to do catheters myself and go to the toilet by myself, and I've come up with something that just makes it a lot easier to be able to open my pants up and be able to do that. That's not a glamorous one, but it's been something that's very impactful in my life and meant that I didn't need to have a leg bag on me all the time. 

6. Our philosophy at TOM is about leaving the world in a better place than we found it. Is there something you want to tell others that might help them do that? 

By making someone else's day that little bit better, it makes your day so much better. So, going out of your way to help someone else not only helps them, but you feel really good as well. In a world where we want everything, and we're time poor, and worried about the cost of living, and stuff like that, we can be very focused on ourselves. But if we broaden our horizon to others and doing good by others, that will have the best influence on your life that you can imagine. 

I'm so thankful for being exposed to the disability community. You could look at it and go ‘I'm a quadriplegic and life is a lot harder now’, but at the same time, being exposed to the disability community has made my life so much better. I go to these disability events, maybe a TOM Makeathon, and I leave there just feeling so good, because you're just around such good people. It opens your eyes to different diversity, and different things, and gives you great perspective on life as well.  

One last one might be, the small things you do have a huge impact on people's lives, so just walking in, and smiling at a work colleague, or grabbing a door for someone, or something like that. We don't know what people are going through in their lives, and just the small things you do can have a huge impact. Don't underestimate them.