Spinal cord injury and disability can reframe everything you thought you knew about friendship, belonging, and what it means to show up for someone. In this episode of Golden Threads, Ian Harvey shares how two life-changing injuries to people he loved became the foundation for a career devoted to unlocking genuine community experiences for families navigating disability.
When Ian Harvey’s best friend Doug was in a car accident that left him with a spinal cord injury, Ian faced a choice that many of us will face at some point: how do you show up for someone when their world has fundamentally changed, and you don’t have a script. Over 20 years of work in fitness management, Ian thought he understood bodies and resilience. Two spinal cord injuries, years apart, taught him something far more valuable: that presence and honest friendship matter more than saying the right thing, and that people navigating profound barriers often teach us about acceptance and perspective more generously than we offer them. From those friendships grew a complete career pivot. Ian now leads the WhatAbility Foundation in Perth, working toward a million inclusive community experiences by 2035. His story is about what happens when you stop seeing disability as a barrier to overcome and start seeing it as part of the people you love. He speaks about fear of saying the wrong thing, the deepening of friendship when physical reciprocity is no longer the measure, and why the disability sector has often missed the point that fun, choice, and dignity are not luxuries. This is a conversation about showing up, the generosity of people facing the most difficult circumstances, and how to build community that actually includes…
🕒 CHAPTERS:
00:00 Welcome and introduction to WhatAbility Foundation
04:06 From fitness to disability: the pivot that changed everything
07:22 Life before: coaching, sport, and feeling 23
09:12 Jason dives and breaks his neck: the first fracture
14:17 Doug’s accident in Canada: the second fracture
17:04 Standing at the door: learning how to show up
21:10 What Jason taught me about perspective and acceptance
28:14 The value of friendship: physical help and deeper conversations
38:02 Fear, dignity, and treating people as they want to be treated
40:57 Current role: giving experiences as Santa Claus every day
50:28 The stars align: noticing WhatAbility at the footy
55:03 The future: a million experiences and building connection platforms
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🌐 CONNECT WITH IAN HARVEY:
WhatAbility Foundation: whatability.com.au
WhatAbility: whatability.com.au
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Welcome.
We’re glad you found your way here.
Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.
Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object’s history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.
This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn’t go to plan.
Here you’ll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:
• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham
• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale
• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova
• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd
• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience
• Connecting Seniors
Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.
Whether you’re navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you’re welcome here.
New episodes are released fortnightly.
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Thank you for being part of this community.
We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.
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