Ordinary people: I was hit by a train and survived

Paul Harpur was 14 when he was hit by an electric train and lost his sight, but he hasn’t let that hold him back and now he is a legal academic.

PAUL HARPUR

ACADEMIC, 39

KENMORE

I was 14 when I was hit by an electric train and lost my eyesight. I was living with my family at Wynnum and was on my way to see a friend when it happened.

I was just taking a short cut along the train tracks, to save 10 minutes.

I usually climbed down from the tracks at some point but I didn’t that time.

It wasn’t anything grand but the result was large: kind of like when someone decides they’ll reach down and pick up their phone when they are driving.

Obviously it was a silly spot to be. I didn’t hear or see the train.

I remember running along, then there was a bit of a flash and the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital.

My head cracked like an egg when you drop it, but it was patched together and the end result was I was left with smell loss and no eyesight.

Not serious in the scheme of things and it was pretty amazing I survived.

Mum found it very hard; I was a bit sad obviously for a few days but I just got on with it. The choice was: get on with it or give up.

I repeated grade nine because I missed the last term recovering and I changed schools [to Cavendish Road State High School], where I topped two subjects and got a sporting prize, an all-rounder prize and an OP 5, which got me into law and business at university.

Paul Harpur, pictured with his guide dog Sean, has been blind since he was 14.

Before the accident I wanted to be a stockbroker but I decided to pick a career where I knew there were a lot of blind people and they were doing OK – and law was one of those. It’s a text-based profession, so all the information is there, plus it’s easier now with technology.

I also started doing sport straight away after my accident.

I represented Queensland in goalball, which is a blind sport, the year after my accident and continued with that through to the Sydney Paralympics in 2000.

I then switched to athletics and went to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002, then the world titles, the Athens Paralympics in 2004 and the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, a European tour and one more world titles in goalball before I retired in 2010.

I’d graduated by then and was working as a lawyer for the Queensland Ombudsman and studying for my Masters.

I specialised as a workplace relations lawyer and had various part-time solicitor and law practice positions, but I found I was called more to be an academic.

After my Masters, I did my PhD, which looked at sweat shops and Australia’s obligations around workplace health and safety.

I then decided to focus on disability law. I’m a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland and an international and comparative disability rights legal academic.

I used a white cane for years but I started using guide dogs when I was 21, which was better.

When you use a cane you can bump into things whereas the dog walks you around that thing and helps you find things and gives you dignity.

Plus if you’ve got a problem, people feel bad for the dog so it’s just heaps easier. I’ve had a few dogs: my current dog is Sean, who’s a four-year-old black labrador.

Paul Harpur at the launch of the Royal Blind Foundation Christmas Appeal in Lytton.

I’ve had lots of cool things happen in my life, including being named a Fulbright Future Scholar this year, but becoming a dad has been the highlight of my life.

My son Hayden is four and likes soccer and dinosaurs and roaring.

My wife Melissa and I met because my guide dog at the time, Chester, licked her leg.

We were both in a bar and he nuzzled her and she turned around thinking it was some drunk male and then saw the dog, and we met and connected. We married in 2012 and Hayden was born three years later.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt sorry [for myself].

There are times where you feel down I suppose. Working out the logistics for overseas work trips involves a lot more effort, and it takes a bit longer to do things, like getting ready in the morning.

Whenever you feel down you don’t have to look too hard to see how exceptionally privileged you are, just being Australian.

Most Australians live very well and as a person with a disability doing what I enjoy, I’m actually very lucky.

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