BackFriday, 22 January 2016
Opening Address to Lord’s Taverners Blind Cricket Series
It is a great pleasure for me to be here with you today to celebrate the opening ceremony of the Lord’s Taverners blind cricket series. I’d like to begin by acknowledging that the land we are holding the ceremony on today is the traditional land of the Kaurna people, and acknowledging that it has not been without enormous suffering by nation’s first peoples that we have come to be able to stand on this ground today. I acknowledge the struggles of aboriginal people, past and present and pledged to do all I can to further reconciliation.
Of course I would also like to thank Cathrin Gill, Matthew Signore, and all of the team at The Royal Society for the Blind for their hard work putting together this big event.
And of course I extend a big welcome and thank you to the cricketers who will be participating, and wish you all the very best of luck.
Now I hope I’m not being too controversial here when I say that I’m sure that the concept of blind cricket is probably foreign to a lot of people. I must admit, given that I know very little about regular cricket, I’m very interested to see how you play.
I would even go as far as to say that the idea of people with vision impairment, playing a game which involves swinging bats and throwing some very hard balls probably makes a few people quite nervous. But, I believe that this is exactly why events such as the blind cricket series are important. Because it challenges the way the general population tends to view people with disability – as not being able to participate in everyday life on the same basis as others, particularly participating in physical activity, or not being able to enjoy the same social and even economic outcomes that might arise from that participation.
Now, in no way do I want what I just said to be interpreted in the same vein as that cringe-worthy saying “the only real disability in this life is a bad attitude”, because you cannot attitude-away the barriers that you face as people who are blind or have low vision any more than me smiling at a flight of stairs will make them disappear.
What I am saying is that the more we as a society, as policy-makers, and at all levels of government learn about the social and economic imperatives of real inclusion of all people, the more incumbent it is on us to find ways to enable that inclusion and participation. And, that your participation in a sport that many would not associate with people with vision impairment is in itself an act of defiance, of pushing against those expectations set for you by others and as a fellow person with disability, I thank you for that.
Dignity for Disability continues to work to demonstrate that opportunity is the only real difference between people with and without disability, and to close those gaps. Whether it is improving access to the justice system for survivors of violent crime with disability through the Disability Justice Plan, or introducing legislation for demerit points for drivers illegally parked in an accessible parking spaces without a permit, or increasing access to information in sign language, introducing legislation to further implement universal accessible design, or fighting for better education standards for students with disabilities or different learning needs. We are working to create a world in which people with disabilities are true equals alongside our non-disabled peers. Where it is accepted that it is not disability in and of itself that is the problem; but rather the barriers that society erects as a response to disability.
I thank you for your part in creating this change through your participation in this event today, and the political nuances of it aside, I really hope you have fantastic matches alongside good friends, enjoy playing in the Parklands in the warmth of our summer (I imagine the climate is a shock for our northern hemisphere cricketers who have come from winter), and enjoy our beautiful state of South Australia. Thank you.
