Dylan Alcott: it’s all about choice for people with disabilities

Wheelchair sports star, Dylan Alcott, is backing an online venture bringing support workers together with people with disabilities and older Australians.

Olympian Dylan Alcott is going into business. Picture: Eugene Hyland

Fresh from his 12th grand slam victory, the Australian Open, tennis champion Dylan Alcott is already looking to his next project — an online platform linking support workers and people with disabilities.

The wheelchair tennis star, who won his seventh consecutive Open this month in a satisfying victory against Dutch rival Sam Schroder, is low-key about his court success — just “floating” on the couch, rather than on cloud nine.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I used to go out and have 100 beers,” he tells The Deal.

“But it was a special one. I just felt really grateful to be there and very grateful for the opportunity to play tennis, to even do my job at the moment. I reminded myself every time I was out on the court. I think that’s why I performed so well, because when you have that gratitude you can be in the moment and enjoy what you’re doing.”

These days Alcott is also busy with his next business venture, the online platform Mable, in which he has become an investor. Mable is a web-based community that connects people with disabilities and older Australians with support workers. Alcott says he’s in because Mable aligns with his values.

“I’m not going to play tennis forever and winning grand slams is not my purpose in life,” he says.

“My purpose in life is to change perceptions so people with a disability can live the lives they deserve to live.”

Alcott, who also runs inclusive music festival Ability Fest and start-up Able Foods, says the partnership is about building his business portfolio for life beyond sport.

“I’ve got a little bit in me, I don’t know when retirement day is yet,” he says. “But I’m on the wrong side of 30 now so I feel like I’m getting a bit washed up. I have a little bit left, but … when I found out about Mable, and (co-founder) Pete (Scutt) and I connected I really wanted to be involved. Not just because it’s a great opportunity for me but to help change people’s lives and to build it bigger and better.”

Alcott says he has experienced first-hand the importance of choice when it comes to choosing support workers. “When I found out about Mable it was music to my ears. I used support workers growing up as a kid and I still use them today,” he says. “One thing I really struggled with as a kid was being given a government support person, and I didn’t really have any choice about who they would be. I had some awesome ones and some who I kind of struggled with. When you’re a young person with a disability you want to be getting out and doing the things you want to do with the people you want to do it with.”

Mable co-founder and chief executive Scutt says the business is different from more mainstream disability service providers because of the control it offers users in finding workers with whom they click.

“The first thing that sets us apart is we’re not actually a disability support provider,” Scutt says. “We’re a platform that’s enabling people to connect, so it’s about discovering and building relationships in communities. It’s about people coming together through mutual choice. You might need a qualification for certain services, but often you don’t. It allows people to find their community online and find support workers who support what they’re looking to do with their life.”

Alcott is excited to be involved in a company driven by people with lived-experience in disability. He also uses the platform: “First and foremost I am a consumer of Mable now. I have a support worker who comes into my house and helps my partner Chantelle and me every week. I think able-bodied people might take for granted the importance of choice.

“When you have no choice or people make choices on your behalf, sometimes it works out, but you want to have that independence to make decisions over your own life and have a wide range of choice.”