University of Queensland to partner with Paralympics Australia ahead of 2032 Games

The University of Queensland has partnered with Paralympics Australia to overturn the shockingly low percentage of people with a disability who get the chance to play sport. Here’s the plan.

Queensland’s world-leading sport science researchers will focus on breaking down barriers for current and future Paralympians ahead of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A multi-gold medal Paralympian says the obstacles that still exist for people with a disability is “sad”, particularly in “sport-crazy Australia”. She said clubs or communities generally don’t have the knowledge, awareness or funding to be more inclusive and accessible.

The University of Queensland, ranked second in the world for sport science, has partnered with Paralympics Australia and will unleash their students as the “people power” to overturn the shockingly low percentage of people with a disability who get the chance to play sport.

University of Queensland Professor Bruce Abernethy and Paralympic swimmer Lakeisha Patterson. Photo: Supplied – University of Queensland.

The deal follows the March announcement that a world-first multimillion-dollar Paralympic Centre of Excellence will be built in Brisbane via a state government and UQ collaboration.

The initial design sketches did raise some eyebrows by featuring a steep spiral staircase in the middle of the adjoining Health and Recreation Centre. But UQ has reiterated these are “early stage schematics” and no final designs or formal proposals have been decided on yet.

According to Paralympics Australia, three-quarters of Australians with a disability want to play sport, but only one-quarter actually get the chance.

Para-swimmer Lakeisha Patterson has won multiple freestyle gold medals at the 2015 World Championships, 2018 Commonwealth Games, and 2020 Paralympic Games. Outside of the pool, she is studying a Bachelor of Communication at UQ.

“It is sad to hear statistics like that in a sport-crazy country like Australia. Most of the time, people with a disability want to be involved and help their clubs or communities be more accessible, but a lot of organisations or facilities don’t have the knowledge or awareness of how they can be more inclusive. Funding is also quite a disadvantage,” she said.

Lakeisha Patterson at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games in August 2021. Photo: Sportshoot / Delly Carr / Paralympics Australia.

Ms Patterson said it was “really exciting” and “a major milestone” for Paralympics Australia to secure support from a major Australian university.

“We will have so many people with so much knowledge to help our current Paralympians for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane and beyond,” she said.

“Not everyone can be or wants to be a Paralympian, but that feeling of being involved and being equal to your peers is so important, and there’s so many health benefits.

“So to have these facilities and this support set up now will better equip us in the long run to develop our para-athletes and find so much talent that we have discovered before.”

“As a Paralympian myself, it’s great to see the shift in the para-athlete movement, compared to when I started in 2012. It is getting better every year.”

UQ 2032 Games engagement lead Professor Bruce Abernethy said the issue of creating equal opportunities for people with a disability is a “really complex problem”.

“A particular part of it is the disconnect between rehabilitation and sport systems, at the moment, someone with a traumatic injury will go through hospital and acute rehabilitation, but then there is a gulf between that and their transition to a new life,” he said.

“The advantage of the university setting is that we can provide support for people with high needs by using our student population in a training context – so there is the people power.

“It also means the next generation of physiotherapists, for example, are exposed to disability as part of their training and they are then familiar with what is needed.”

Professor Abernethy played down concerns raised over the spiral staircase in the preliminary sketches related to the Paralympic Centre of Excellence.

An initial artistic impression of a new Paralympic facility at UQ, St Lucia. Photo: Supplied.

“We are in the process of working with our partners to co-design the facility and put a formal proposal to the government to bring this to a reality,” he said.

“There is not a design plan finalised yet, and that is the same for the adjoining Health and Recreation Centre.

“Those were early stage schematics of what it might look like, we have not progressed to the final design stage involving lifts, or positioning of staircases.”

Paralympics Australia chief executive Catherine Clark said the collaboration with UQ was another step towards achieving PA’s vision of a world-leading and equitable sport system.

“This wonderful collaboration with The University of Queensland will help deliver our stated ambition to lead, develop and leverage partnerships to build capability and enhance Paralympic sport equity and success towards and beyond 2032,” she said.