Matthew Cowdrey
25/02/2015
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I move:
That this council acknowledges the extraordinary Paralympic career of Matthew Cowdrey on his retirement from elite swimming on 10 February this year, just over a fortnight ago and that:
1. He embodies a social model of disability which acknowledges that it is society that creates barriers to people with disability succeeding, not disability itself;
2. Amongst the 20 medals, he won 11 gold medals across three Paralympic Games in 2004, 2008 and 2012, making him Australia’s most successful Paralympian; and
3. Throughout his successful career, he has become an outstanding ambassador for the Paralympic movement.
Before I list the incredible achievements that Matthew has amassed in the first part of his life, I would like to acknowledge his philosophy and approach to life as someone who grew up with a disability. At 26 years of age, he is the same age as me (putting me to shame). Matthew was born with a disability. He has also embraced and, in fact, lived sometimes unwittingly, but always quite passionately from what I have observed, what is often referred to as the social model of disability.
Often, society decides that people with a disability need to adapt or live with the unworkable way that our community is often constructed or, indeed, that a cure for disability would fix the problem. This is the medical model of disability. It presumes that a person with disability has to change to fit their often inappropriate physical surroundings such as buildings, carparks, transport services etc. or that they just have to fit in with an unadaptive education system, health system, or justice system—whatever may be the barriers they are facing—and that it is their problem. It also assumes that people have to try and change their disability because the way they are just cannot be accepted.
It is the social model of disability that Dignity for Disability would prefer to see adopted by all services and governments in Australia. It is not my choosing that I use a wheelchair in many respects and, therefore, cannot access the front entrance of this very parliament, for example. But by not adapting this building to allow people with prams, mobility aid users, or people with vision impairment to come through the front door we say that our democratic institution is still only accessible to some. However, perhaps this is somewhat of a digression.
Matthew Cowdrey has always taken the view, presumably with the support of his family and friends—as is always important—that he could do all that his able-bodied or non-disabled friends and peers could. He may be one forearm and one hand down than your average person on the street, but he always focused on what he could do rather than let himself be limited by what he could not do or, more often than not, what he was told he could not do—as is often the case for many people with disabilities.
I am not sure if he dislikes ‘people with disability’ being used as what is often called ‘inspiration porn’ as much as I do, so I will stop short of saying that he is an inspiration because that is a word that has come to be rather vehemently disliked in the disability community. However, I think we can confidently say that he is a positive role model for all young people, in particular, with or without a disability.
While some sports people, as they grow in success and notoriety, become better known for what they do off-field in their exploits and misadventures, Matthew has always conducted himself in a humble and down-to-earth manner, at least from what I have observed. He has always been grateful for the support he has received from South Australia, our state.
He has maintained his unassuming nature, despite becoming Australia’s most successful Paralympian ever. He competed in the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 Paralympic Games winning 13 Paralympic gold medals and 23 Paralympic medals in total—one for almost every year of his life. A very impressive achievement.
In addition to winning many commonwealth, world, state and national swimming titles across his swimming career, in 2004 Matthew Cowdrey was also named the Australian Paralympian of the Year. In 2006, Cowdrey won the Commonwealth Sports Award category of Male Elite Athlete with a Disability (EAD). Swimming Australia named him its Swimmer of the Year with a Disability for four years in a row from 2004 to 2007. He was also named Swimming Australia’s All-Star Swim Team in 2006 and 2007. Swimming World Magazine has named him their world Swimmer of the Year with a Disability. In 2009 he was named Young South Australian of the Year. In 2011 he was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport’s Best of the Best.
Cowdrey was a finalist for the 2012 Paralympian of the Year. In 2012 the South Australian Aquatic and Leisure Centre decided to name the main competition pool after him, and the City of Salisbury gave him the keys to the city in 2013. In October 2014 Matthew Cowdrey was inducted into the Path of Champions at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
Dignity for Disability, as I am sure everyone else in this chamber does, wishes Matt Cowdrey the very best on the occasion of his retirement and with whatever he chooses to do in his future, which I am sure will be very bright. I thank him not only for his sporting achievements but for the way that he has demonstrated the benefits of a social model of disability and what can happen when society moves to eliminate the barriers which people with disabilities too often face. We thank him for this work and wish him well. I commend the motion to the chamber.
