Australia's first female para drifter challenges disability binaries

An inspiring story has challenged the binaries of positive and negative and shown that a social-relational approach can change disability narratives, writes Melissa Marsden.

AN ARTICLE published in Adelaide-based news outlet The Advertiser goes beneath the surface to explore the realities of having a disability.

The headline grabs the reader’s attention before opening the article: ‘He doesn’t see me as disabled.’

A young couple sit side by side, smiling at the camera.

It is only when the reader opens the article that it is established that the article is really titled: ‘Australia’s first female para drifter Christina Vithoulkas opens up on what’s next.’

The woman is now an individual, with a name and a profession, something worthy of the public interest and of the inspirational narrative that is constructed throughout the article.

ABC indulges in 'inspiration porn' to frame disability narratives

The ABC's framing of tragedies featuring 'inspirational' disabled people is, in fact, perpetuating discrimination against people with disabilities.

The grab again leans into the reader, the juicy details of how such a beautiful and talented woman went from a perfect life to tragedy.

It reads:

‘A horror motocross crash left Christima Vithoulkas with a fractured skull, lacerated spleen and broken back. Now, Australia’s first female para drifter opens up about life seven years on.’

The grab, likely written by the media outlet rather than Vithoulkas herself, tells of a life before and a life after trauma, before having a disability and a life with a disability.

The reality: there often is no after.

The article is written by Vithoulkas, so the reader trusts that her words are honest, her experiences guiding her words.

Vithoulkas writes:

‘I knew in that moment that I was paralysed, but my brain was simultaneously visualising the life I had been living and a wheelchair just being an accessory attached.’

She says her partner is the only person outside her family who ‘doesn’t view me as “disabled”’.

The truth behind the NDIS scheme: A participant's nightmare

The NDIS is a broken system and one that works against participants desperate for assistance.

Vithoulkas says she was approached by charities that were using fundraising for personal gain:

I was initially sceptical about any foundation raising money.

After the first Wings for Life World Run event, I experienced something truly unique.

Although Vithoulkas says she doesn’t personally place much emphasis on cure, the foundation is very clear in its mandate.

Wings for Life sets the scene of trauma and tragedy.

Wings for Life declares:

‘In this moment – while you're reading this – somebody has injured their spinal cord and will be paralysed. No feeling in their legs, maybe no feeling in their arms or hands either. Immobile. Constantly dependent on the assistance of others. We want to help. As a charity foundation, Wings for Life supports cutting-edge research worldwide. Our big goal: To find a cure for spinal cord injury.’

Vithoulkas' article provides the inspiration the reader desires, channelling her experiences to become the poster woman for surviving against the odds.

Not everyone shares these experiences of love and support, of inner strength.

Nor does everyone who has a disability wish for a cure.

Ali France — media reinforces disabling tropes for political points

An article on Ali France, the candidate set to take on Peter Dutton in his seat of Dickson, tells a story all too common in discourses of disability.

For some people, whether because of pain, lack of accessibility, or because their disability is congenital or acquired, a cure is something that an individual values.

It’s easy as an academic to criticise views as disabling or progressive, but sometimes things are not so simple.

Macquarie University academic Kathy Cologon says disability is not so easily placed into binaries of positive or negative:

Advocates of the social model have worked hard to redefine disability, and the articulation of the social model has resulted in considerable change in the understanding of disability for many people, with the potential for wider cultural change.

A social relational understanding of disability holds that: disability is defined by, and exists through, the body's lived experience.

Disability is created based on unequal social relationships that undermine the psycho-emotional well-being of people labelled or designated as “impaired” (and their families).

Vithoulkas said the hardest part was the reactions of those closest to her:

‘Friends and family carried a sense of loss and at times felt like [I was at] my own funeral service as everyone mourned around me.’

But she also knew that ‘whatever was important and meaningful to me would not be impacted by my ability to walk’.

Now in a two-and-a-half-year relationship, Vithoulkas says her partner is ‘the only person besides my immediate family who sees me as a human being and doesn’t view me as “disabled”’.

Vithoulkas shows that a social-relational approach to disability can change disability narratives.

Melissa Marsden is a freelance journalist and PhD candidate at Curtin University. You can follow Melissa on Twitter @MelMarsden96, on Bluesky @melissamarsdenphd or via Melissa's website, Framing the Narrative.