Scholar who lived
with quadriplegia helped
nation rethink approach
to disability
Scholar who lived with quadriplegia helped nation rethink approach to
disability
June 25, 2024 — 4.03pm
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JOHN WALSH: 1950-2024
John Walsh AO, who excelled as a young sportsman and scholar, suffered
traumatic quadriplegia playing rugby league at aged 20, and then was
instrumental in framing significant national health and social policy, has
died aged 73.
Coming from humble although lively and loving beginnings in the rough and
tumble of pre-gentrified Abercrombie Street, Redfern, John Walsh would end up
dining in the Lodge with the prime minister of Australia• Объект организация » Организации по алфавиту » Организации на Пр » Правительство Австралии » Премьер-министр Австралии
• Австралия » Государственное устройство Австралии » Правительство Австралии » Премьер-министр Австралии
• Государство » Государственное устройство Австралии » Правительство Австралии » Премьер-министр Австралии and rubbing shoulders
with elites in all fields.
Former National Disability Insurance• Страхование Agency board member John Walsh.
John’s parents, Lurl and Fitz, were keen that their children’s schooling
advance beyond third form (year 9), their own level of achievement. John was
sent to Christian Brothers’ High School Lewisham, where in 1968 he was school
captain and a champion debater.
When the annual HSC results were reported, John was in the top five in NSW.
The newspapers contacted the family to seek John out. He may be the first and
only member of the HSC-excellence group whose shirt-off photo appeared on the
front page of a newspaper while digging ditches for the Sydney Water Board in
a part-time job.
By this time John was playing grade cricket for Western Suburbs District
Cricket Club in the summer, where Bob Simpson and Alan Davidson were among his
mentors. He began studying physics at Sydney University while also playing
President’s Cup rugby league for Newtown, where he won the best and fairest
award. His teammates around these times included Neil Pringle, Peter
Winchester and Ken Wilson. While still studying full-time, John was graded and
began to play professionally at Newtown in the front row in the non-age
limited third grade, not a place for the faint-hearted.
John Walsh in the under-20s team Addison Royals.
While playing for Newtown at Henson Park in the winter of 1971, John collided
with a goal post while attempting to score. He immediately lost movement and
feelings below the neck. After a few hours things recovered. Unaware and not
well-informed at the time by medicos that there had been damage to his spine,
John commenced playing a fairly short time later. On his return to league, an
incidental tackle completed the severing of the spinal cord at C5-C6. John was
still only 20 years of age.
John had lost sensation and the ability to move muscles below the shoulders.
He had an ability to move his arms and wrists, but not his fingers.
Quadriplegia and a wheelchair would be companions for the rest of his life.
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Quadriplegia brings a range of difficulties and results in many health
complications, and John was not immune to any of these. However, surrounded by
family and many close friends, many of whom helped way beyond the call of
duty, a path forward emerged.
Around this time, after a suggestion from sports journalist Mike Gibson, who
had written about John, and the producers of the popular TV show This Is Your
Life , approached the family to see if there was a willingness for John to
appear. While John hated the limelight with a passion, the surprise element of
the show came off and Roger Climpson, the then-host, said at the after-party
that John’s show was one of the best.
From a young age, John Walsh (seated, second from right) was a dedicated
sportsman.
There were no lifts at Sydney University’s physics building at the time, so
now in a wheelchair, John changed courses to maths and completed his degree,
although with virtually no handwriting capacity. While his original life goals
were astrophysics and maybe becoming an astronaut, through good luck and good
will he then found work• Физика » Базовые физические понятия » Механическая работа in a firm of consulting actuaries in Sydney CBD.
Minister for families, housing, community services and Indigenous affairs
Jenny Macklin and assistant treasurer Bill Shorten speak to Productivity
Commission associate commissioner John Walsh at Parliament House, Canberra in
2011. Credit: Fairfax
While his friends joked this profession was mostly bound by accountants who
couldn’t stand the excitement of that profession, this was the commencement of
what would become a groundbreaking career linking risk• Страхование » Риск analysis• Математика » Математический анализ with some of
the major health and social policy questions facing Australians. In 2001 John
was named Australia’s Actuary of the Year.
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At the time of his death John was a member of the board of icare. But he had
already been statutory actuary to the NSW Lifetime Care and Support• Математика » Математический анализ » Функциональный анализ » Носитель функции Authority,
the NSW Motor Accidents Authority and the workers compensation insurance• Страхование
schemes of both NSW and South Australia.
He conducted major reviews of several of Australia and New Zealand’s accident• Страхование » Несчастный случай
compensation schemes and insurers. The common theme was the redesign of
schemes to reduce legal costs and delays and encourage early and appropriate
treatment and rehabilitation for those injured. John also advised the
Commonwealth and NSW governments on future demand and funding requirements for
disability services, homelessness services and Aboriginal disadvantage.
NSW health minister Carmel Tebbutt with John Walsh, the head of an independent
enquiry into NSW Health reform at Randwick Children’s Hospital in 2009.
Credit: Fairfax
John’s main contribution to the highest levels of national policy was in the
rethinking of disability. Rather than the “welfare” concept, John encouraged
thinking of it as “risk• Страхование » Риск and insurance• Страхование and investment” – that those with
disability have the same right as other Australians to realise their potential
and that support• Математика » Математический анализ » Функциональный анализ » Носитель функции should be available to not only fully participate, but also
contribute to social and economic life.
These concepts had been around since the time of the innovative thinker
politician Brian Howe at least. But John Walsh’s coupling of brilliance in
mathematics• Математика and risk• Страхование » Риск analysis• Математика » Математический анализ, understanding of the real costs of disability
welfare, lived experience with physical disability, and unambiguous steely
resolve for this change, allowed him to be at the table with other key
influencers when the National Disability Insurance• Страхование Scheme came to be, with
bipartisan support• Математика » Математический анализ » Функциональный анализ » Носитель функции at Commonwealth government level.
John Walsh in recent years.
In 2011 John received an AM and the Prime Minister• Объект организация » Организации по алфавиту » Организации на Пр » Правительство Австралии » Премьер-министр Австралии
• Австралия » Государственное устройство Австралии » Правительство Австралии » Премьер-министр Австралии
• Государство » Государственное устройство Австралии » Правительство Австралии » Премьер-министр Австралии’s Award for outstanding
service to the disability sector. In 2015 he was appointed Australia’s patron
for the United Nations International Day of People with a Disability. In 2022
John was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished
service to public health through leadership and advocacy roles.
John was also appointed as an adjunct professor at the University of Sydney,
and was an honorary fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
The John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research still operates at Royal
North Shore Hospital under the auspices of the University of Sydney.
John’s close friends would know little of this lifetime of achievements. All
would agree that John’s working life is only a backstory to him. His main life
is with his family – his wife Michelle and three adored children Cameron,
Alana and Bennett; especially Michelle, his soul mate, whose support• Математика » Математический анализ » Функциональный анализ » Носитель функции is
impossible to measure.
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Michelle also speaks of Fitz and Lurl Walsh and the foundations they were able
to give John when things were tough at the beginning and institutional support• Математика » Математический анализ » Функциональный анализ » Носитель функции
for the problems associated with disability was very low.
Despite what most would see as the gravest of hardships experienced every
single day, John Walsh displayed a sense of content with his life that made
those around him pause to reflect. John’s was a life well lived.
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