A must-read for anyone who has acquired a disability, particularly in their working life

Acquiring a disability while in medical school, the tenacity to finish and his ongoing work to champion the disability rights of doctors. Dinesh is a trailblazer telling his story. This book would have given me hope when I started my disability journey. Read it!

"To make a difference in someone’s life, we don't need to do big things. The little things count. A simple act of kindness can make an unforgettable impact.” - Dinesh Palipana OAM

About Dinesh Palipana

Dinesh is a doctor, lawyer, medical researcher and disability advocate. Having acquired his disability mid-medical school Dinesh has gone on to be the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland (Australia) and the second person with quadriplegia to complete medical school in Australia. In 2022 he was awarded the Queensland Australian of the Year award and published his book Stronger, How Losing Everything Set Me Free.

Follow him on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Book Review: Stronger, How Losing Everything Set Me Free.

Reading this book I felt a strong sense of a shared experience. Of feeling less alone in, not what happened to me, but how it felt to acquire a disability.

A must-read for anyone who has acquired a disability, particularly in their working life.

Acquiring a disability is jarring on your sense of self

The thing about acquiring a disability is that it's startling.

Abrupt.

You sense a clear shift in people's perception of you. And you of yourself.

Suddenly, I was treated as less capable. People made decisions for me, ones I was fully capable of making myself. My fiercely fought independence evaporated. My dignity didn’t seem to be a consideration, let alone a priority.

Professionally, this was jarring; my leg didn't work, but my mind was intact. It was a lonely and isolating experience.

Books like this by Dr Dinesh would have made me feel far less alone and more confident that it would get better.

Slowly things are changing

The publication and success of books like Strong demonstrate societal shifts in attitudes and support when people acquire disabilities, even if the stories contained in it remind us of the soft bigotry of ableism.

There is (much) more work to be done, but on this sunny spring day in Melbourne, I'm feeling hopeful.

“It took me a long time to open myself to the world after the accident. I hid away, healed, then gathered the courage to step out. Luckily, I wasn’t alone.” - Dinesh Palipana

Me too. Eight years and one very difficult pregnancy later I'm here, advocating, educating and mostly unlearning myself.

To support people when they acquire a disability consider unlearning

• The experience as purely physical
• Acquiring a disability as an injury to come back from

Instead, consider

• The ongoing search for our new normal
• The non-linear, and ongoing readjustment of personal identity
• The readjustment of the expectations we have of ourselves
• The way small non-judgemental conversations can help someone adjust

Join the unlearning.

You can subscribe to learn with me. I'll share what I learn (and unlearn) about accessibility and disability. Together, we will consider the implications for impactful commercial and human outcomes.