Bundaberg’s Pat Allison a Spinal Life Australia volunteer and accessibility advocate
Pat Allison never thought about the issue of accessibility when she was younger. But when her own spinal condition started to impact her life, it became a challenge she chose to grapple with both hands.
“IT’S not the disability, it’s the accessibility.”
That is a saying Pat Allison from Bundaberg in Queensland is very fond of. Accessibility is a cause close to her heart, but not one she ever gave a thought to growing up and working on farms near Orange, NSW, in her younger days.
But when her own spinal condition started to limit her mobility, it became a challenge she chose to grapple with both hands, while supporting others in a similar position at the same time.
Pat, 75, is a volunteer peer support facilitator with Spinal Life Australia, an organisation that supports and advocates for people with spinal cord issues.
Pat has also been an advocate for accessibility for people with special needs, including building access, parking and transport, and is on or provided advice to various committees on those subjects.
“It is just something I enjoy … something I am passionate about, trying to help people,” she says.
Pat has not always required a wheelchair to get around. Born with spina bifida, Pat says she “had a pretty normal life up until I was about 45”.
She grew up on a farm at Euchareena, north of Orange, went to school at nearby Molong, and became a hairdresser, which is what she was doing when she met her “wonderful” husband, Jim.
She moved to his farm just outside Orange where they had an orchard of apples, cherries, peaches and nectarines, and became parents to a son and daughter.
She started to notice issues with her mobility when she was in her 40s. At first, she could get around on crutches, but now uses a wheelchair.
Pat says Orange was too cold to live in with her condition, so she and Jim decided to move to Bundaberg, where their son also was based.
It was in 2004 that Pat first became involved with the Bundaberg branch of Spinal Life Australia. There are about 60 local members, among them people who have suffered spinal injuries, neurological issues, or been impacted by other conditions that affect their spine or mobility, she says. Part of Pat’s role involves organising monthly meetings and formal and informal gatherings (coronavirus has impacted how these gatherings can take place).
One of her favourite projects she has helped organise was a photography exhibition held in Bundaberg in 2016.
A Day in the Life of a Person with Disability began life as an idea to show “all the things people do in their lives”.
Put together with the support of a range of service providers and support groups, the exhibition featured portraits of 24 people, taken by six local photographers. Importantly, the photos — which featured a Paralympian through to a primary student — celebrated ability, rather than disability. It was launched for Disability Action Week.
Photographer Steve Richter, who turned to hand cycling after suffering a spinal injury in 2008, was part of the inspiration for the exhibition. He featured both in front and behind the lens.
“It took a lot of hard work, but it highlighted all facets of people with disabilities,” Pat says.
“It took off. It wasn’t just Spinal Life that did it. I suppose it was driven by me, but it was basically all service providers had their input into it.”
Pat says the SLA group tries to mark Disability Action Week every year. In 2019, they visited the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, and it was not just the tipple that Pat gave a tick of approval. “It is all fully accessible, which is really good,” she says.
“That’s what we try to promote — fully accessible toilets, and ramps everywhere. It was just great.”
The issues facing people in wheelchairs had not occurred to Pat before her own experiences, but now it is the biggest issue she wants to make others aware of.
She recounts stories of trying to access shops when her daughter visited from Victoria (“she said ‘well they missed out on my business because you can’t get in’,” Pat says), and a building which is accessible, but from a side entrance (“You shouldn’t have to go up a side lane to access where you want to go”).
She has also helped successfully advocate for the Queensland Government to extend a taxi subsidy scheme for NDIS participants.
Having suffered a fall at the end of last year, Pat says she will be taking some time off. While retirement may be on the horizon, she is also not quite ready to give up her volunteer work.
“I still enjoy what I do and I have made a lot of good friends,” she says.
Pat has been given life membership to Spinal Life, and also got to meet the governor. “It was quite a thing for me, being a young girl from the country,” she says.
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