Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

Ian Harvey: Unlocking Experiences and Rewriting What's Possible in Disability

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +1000

SUMMARY

A diving accident on a Boxing Day cricket trip changed everything — for an 18-year-old named Jason, and for Ian Harvey, the young rugby coach standing beside him. In this episode of Golden Threads, host Daniel Dougherty sits down with Ian — National Foundation Manager for the WhatAbility Foundation in Perth — to trace a 20-year journey from fitness manager to one of Australia's most quietly powerful advocates for inclusion. Ian shares two friendships that reshaped his life (Jason and Doug, both quadriplegic after sudden injuries), the lessons they taught him about honesty, friendship, and fun, and his work today gifting tickets, experiences, and joy to families living with disability across Australia.

EPISODE PILLARS

The phone call that changed everything
Ian unpacks the day Jason — a 17-year-old he coached — broke his neck diving into a wave, and how that single moment rewired his understanding of disability, friendship, and luck.
Friendship as the real teacher
The lesson Jason gave a mental health nurse from a hospital bed — "I feel fine, I've got my mates here" — and what 20+ years of friendship has taught Ian about showing up, honesty, and not turning away from hard conversations.
Why fun is the missing piece in disability support
Ian explains why WhatAbility is built around joy, jet skis, footy and four-wheel-driving — and why "fun" is too often the first thing stripped from disability service models.
Like Santa Claus every day
Inside the WhatAbility Foundation: gifting up to six tickets a month per family, and partnering with the Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open, Fun Lab and Bounce to unlock experiences usually out of reach.
One million experiences by 2035
Ian's bold goal — and why his vision for an inclusive Australia means building events so good that people without disability in their lives feel like they're missing out.

GUEST BIO

Ian Harvey is the National Foundation Manager at the WhatAbility Foundation, based in Perth, Western Australia. After two decades managing health clubs and gyms across Australia, Ian pivoted into the disability sector — drawing on more than 20 years of personal experience supporting two close friends, Jason and Doug, both of whom acquired spinal injuries in their late teens and early twenties. Ian leads the Foundation's national mission to unlock one million inclusive experiences for people with disability and their families by 2035.

LINKS

WhatAbility Foundation — https://whatabilityfoundation.org.au

WhatAbility (NDIS provider) — https://whatability.com.au

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) — https://www.rda.org.au
Australian Grand Prix sensory pit-lane tours
Australian Open accessibility programming
Fun Lab and Bounce inclusive sessions
NDIS — https://www.ndis.gov.au

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to Golden Threads

00:43 Meet Ian Harvey

01:21 What is the WhatAbility Foundation

02:43 The fitness years

04:50 COVID burnout and the career pivot

05:41 "Two Steves" — meeting WhatAbility

07:38 First experience with disability — Jason

09:09 The diving accident

12:06 The phone call and the guilt

13:41 Mum's volunteer work with RDA

14:06 Doug's accident in Canada

16:08 Standing on the family's doorstep

20:00 The 20-year journey with Jason

22:18 "I feel fine" — what Jason said in hospital

24:27 Jason today — chartered accountant via voice control

27:39 The true value of friendship

30:02 Beyond physical reciprocity

33:25 Hidden disabilities and being comfortable with hard questions

36:31 Feeling like you get more than you give

40:09 Like Santa Claus every day

40:42 The Australian Grand Prix collaboration

42:42 Inside the WhatAbility model

46:06 No such thing as a barrier

49:22 Meeting WhatAbility — the night at the footy

52:18 Society and hidden disabilities

53:55 The future — 1 million experiences by 2035

55:34 Building a one-stop platform for inclusion

58:40 Closing words and gratitude

CALL TO ACTION

If this episode moved you, please follow Kintsugi Heroes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred app, leave a rating or review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. To support our not-for-profit mission to share more stories like Ian's, visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and make a tax-deductible donation, or get in touch about partnering with us.

THE KINTSUGI CONNECTION

Watch every episode on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

If this story resonated, explore more from our Disability Series — honest conversations with advocates, carers, and people with lived experience reshaping what inclusion looks like in Australia.

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit storytelling platform sharing real stories of resilience, disability and transformation. Inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi — repairing broken pottery with gold so the cracks become the most beautiful part — we believe every life can be made more beautiful through what it has survived.

PARTNER WITH US

We work with NDIS providers, advocacy organisations, community partners and brands who share our values. To explore partnership, visit kintsugiheroes.com.au

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Remember — we're all in this together.

Paul Jamieson: Nine Years After the Wakeboard, the Mango, and the Hand Squeeze That Said He Was Still There

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +1000

For almost two years after his brain injury, Paul Jamieson could not eat or drink anything. When his speech pathologist finally decided he was ready to try, she asked him what he wanted. He said mangoes. He still remembers exactly what it tasted like.

Nearly nine years ago, Paul was wakeboarding on a lake in Victoria when a fall headfirst into the water caused a severe brain bleed. He was helicoptered to the Alfred Hospital, where surgeons drilled a hole in his skull to relieve the pressure. The surgery saved his life, but the brain injury had already happened. In the weeks that followed, Paul was absent from his own body, existing but not present, with doctors at one point considering palliative care. Then, without explanation, he started to get better.

Host Daniel Dougherty sits down with Paul to trace the nine years since: the speech pathologist who worked on his swallowing muscles for months before the mango was possible, the physiotherapist who pressed her body weight onto his knees to get one revolution on a stationary bike, the ex-partner who sat beside him every day when he could not respond, and the hand squeeze that told that partner he was still in there. Paul also talks about moving into his own apartment in Brunswick, training for a 40-kilometre bike ride, co-authoring a research paper, and pursuing motivational speaking and allied health work. He is, by his own account, happier now than he was before the accident. He knows how that sounds.

This is a conversation about acquired brain injury, rehabilitation, independent living, the people who make recovery possible, and what it means to appreciate the smallest things.

Key Takeaways

- Recovery is measured in small, specific milestones. From one revolution on a stationary bike to a 30-kilometre ride on an electric tricycle, Paul's progress has been built on incremental goals set by a team of therapists who had a vision for him that he could not always see himself.

- The people beside you matter as much as the therapy. Paul's family, his ex-partner Adam, and his support workers Rachel and Isabelle each played a distinct and named role in his recovery. He is specific about what each of them gave him, and careful to credit them.

- Positivity, for Paul, is not a choice but a condition. Paul describes the brain injury as having knocked the negativity out of him. Before the accident he was struggling. After it, something shifted. He does not frame this as inspiration; he describes it as something that happened to him.

- Independent living is a system, not a solo act. Paul's apartment in Brunswick has 24-hour on-site support staff. He calls them when he needs them and does not when he does not. That structure is what makes his independence possible, and he is clear about that.

- Contribution is part of the recovery. Paul is pursuing motivational speaking, a traineeship at Jigsaw, a short course in medical reception, and a co-authored research paper. He sees each of these as a way of giving something back, not just as personal milestones.

Guest Bio

Paul Jamieson is a Melbourne-based speaker and advocate who sustained a severe acquired brain injury in a wakeboarding accident nearly nine years ago. After an extended period of rehabilitation that included relearning to speak, swallow, and move, he now lives independently in Brunswick with on-site support. He has produced a five-part podcast series about his recovery, Beyond the Impact, available on Spotify, and speaks at universities and workplaces about resilience, positivity, and life after brain injury. His website is pauljamieson1.com.

Resources Mentioned

- Beyond the Impact, Paul's Recovery Story, https://open.spotify.com/ (Paul's five-part podcast series on Spotify featuring his speech pathologist, OT, and physiotherapist)

- Paul Jamieson's website, http://pauljamieson1.com (Information on Paul's motivational speaking services and background)

- Jigsaw (Organisation where Paul is completing a traineeship in preparation for allied health reception work)

- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), https://www.wehi.edu.au (Medical research institute where Paul worked in the breast cancer lab prior to his accident)

- The Alfred Hospital, https://www.alfredhealth.org.au (Melbourne hospital where Paul received emergency surgery following his brain injury)

- Kintsugi Heroes, https://kintsugiheroes.com.au (Tax-deductible donations to support the podcast)

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and welcome

01:47 The wakeboarding accident

03:14 Surgery at the Alfred, and the brain injury

07:02 Life since the Beyond the Impact podcast

08:52 Moving into his own apartment in Brunswick

13:56 Being absent from his own body

15:47 The therapists who changed his recovery

17:34 Two years without eating, then the mango

20:01 The stationary bike and the electric tricycle

25:20 Adam, the hand squeeze, and a friendship that held

30:38 How the brain injury changed his relationship with negativity

32:47 Motivational speaking and the website

38:27 The 40-kilometre Warburton to Lillydale ride

43:28 Acceptance, happiness, and appreciating small things

49:49 Stubbornness, determination, and his mum

The Kintsugi Connection

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Kintsugi Heroes is an Australian not-for-profit (DGR endorsed) dedicated to strengthening mental wellbeing through the power of storytelling. We believe that lived experience is a gift to be shared, not a scar to be hidden.

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Julie Fisher: A Mother's Advocacy, Down Syndrome, and the Glue That Holds a Family Together

Tue, 19 May 2026 05:00:00 +1000

Two years before Julie Fisher fell pregnant with her third child, the universe set her up.

She'd just become friends with a woman named Tina, whose daughter Amy had Down syndrome. Julie had never met anyone with Down syndrome before. She watched Amy in the playground. She asked questions. And one of the answers — about how hard a postnatal diagnosis can be when nobody warned you — quietly rewrote what Julie would do if it ever happened to her family.

It did. At 12 weeks pregnant, an ultrasound flagged a marker. At 15 weeks, an amniocentesis confirmed it. Then came five appointments with two different doctors pushing termination — until Julie yelled at them at 25 weeks that she wasn't going anywhere.

In Episode 2 of Golden Threads, host Dan Dougherty sits down with Julie — author of five books, weekly radio host, motivational speaker, founder of an annual disability expo, and mum to 19-year-old Darcy — to talk about advocacy that starts before a baby is born, the fear-based stares that turned out not to be stares at all, and the signature line she takes everywhere: "Give people a chance and watch them shine."

This is a conversation about motherhood, disability, inclusion, the slow work of changing minds, and the kind of family glue you don't see coming.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

- Advocacy that started before birth. How a friendship with another mum and a single conversation about postnatal diagnosis prepared Julie to say "we want to know" — and to push back hard against five appointments of termination pressure.

- "He came into the world like a rock star." Born five weeks early with a roomful of doctors and students waiting to see how he'd cope, Darcy entered screaming. He's been entering the world that way ever since.

- The Darcy effect on a family. Two older brothers, a busy house, and the third child who became the glue. Why Julie's other boys argue with him, stir him up, and treat him exactly like a brother — and why that's the win.

- From defence mode to smiling back. Julie's honest account of being in mama-bear mode at every stare in the supermarket — and how learning to smile first changed her, her son, and a lot of strangers.

- "Give people a chance and watch them shine." Julie's signature quote, plus the five books, the radio show, and the annual expo it now powers.

GUEST BIO

Julie Fisher is an Australian author, motivational speaker, weekly radio host, community organiser, advocate, and mum of three. She lives in Victoria with her family and her son Darcy, 19, who has Down syndrome. Julie is the author of five books, including "The Unexpected Journey", "The Magic of Inclusion", "From the Hearts of Mums" (gold award winner), the children's book "Big School", and her latest, "The Adolescent Journey". She hosts a weekly disability-focused radio show (now over 100 episodes deep) and founded her local disability expo. Her signature quote — "Give people a chance and watch them shine" — has become a small movement in itself.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

- "The Unexpected Journey" — Julie's first book about Darcy's birth and early years

- "The Magic of Inclusion" — Julie's second book on community and acceptance

- "From the Hearts of Mums" — anthology of 13 mothers of children with Down syndrome (gold award winner)

- "Big School" — Julie's children's book

- "The Adolescent Journey" — Julie's latest, on the teenage years and the practical side (Centrelink, NDIS, functional capacity assessments, tax file numbers)

- Down Syndrome Victoria — dsav.asn.au

- Carers Victoria — carersvictoria.org.au

- Carers Australia — carersaustralia.com.au

- NDIS — ndis.gov.au

TIMESTAMPS

- 00:00 Cold open + welcome to Golden Threads

- 00:32 Meeting Julie Fisher — author, advocate, mum

- 01:28 The friendship that set everything up — meeting Tina and her daughter Amy

- 02:59 Pregnant with Darcy: the ultrasound, the nuchal fold, the question

- 04:03 Walking into the obstetrician already knowing

- 04:34 The amniocentesis result — and what it actually felt like

- 05:13 Five appointments, two doctors, and the 25-week yelling match

- 05:50 The mixed reactions of family and friends

- 06:40 Tina's support group: 10 mums, every fortnight

- 08:23 Where mother-bear advocacy actually comes from

- 09:51 Mapping out a primary school life before he was born

- 11:21 Darcy enters the world like a rock star

- 12:33 Family life with three boys — and a baby in special care

- 13:53 The brothers' protective instinct, and why she'd just sit back and watch

- 15:34 Dual schooling: four days specialist, one day mainstream ("Darcy Day")

- 16:41 Why high school had to be specialist — and why Darcy thrived

- 18:01 Life after school: performing arts and the working farm

- 19:05 The one thing she sometimes wonders about

- 21:25 Worry, vulnerability, and the world getting better

- 23:01 Going out in the community — stares, smiles, and learning to smile first

- 26:15 Why "if you want to ask, ask" is part of the message

- 27:41 The fear that drives a lot of awkward reactions

- 28:35 Why "we are all different anyway" matters

- 29:34 What Darcy has taught the whole family

- 31:18 Conquering escalators, hand dryers, and the barber

- 33:33 The five books — how it started, and why each one exists

- 35:24 The first taste of being asked to speak

- 36:33 "From the Hearts of Mums" and meeting other mums in lockdown

- 37:52 "The Adolescent Journey" — and the practical guide for parents

- 38:44 Watching Darcy nod along on stage

- 41:14 What inclusion actually looks like at street level

- 44:01 Heavy doors, change tables for adults, and the things you only notice from the inside

- 47:07 Julie's favourite mode of advocacy

- 48:40 The radio show, the expo, and the providers nobody hears about

- 53:38 The signature quote: "Give people a chance and watch them shine"

- 56:18 Final reflections: the disability world is scary, and there are good people in it

- 57:01 We're all in this together — outro

If this conversation moved you, here's how to help us share more like it:

- Subscribe to Golden Threads and the Kintsugi Heroes podcast wherever you listen

- Leave a rating or review — it's the single biggest thing you can do to help us reach more listeners

- Share this episode with one person who needs to hear it today

- Donate to support our storytelling: kintsugiheroes.com.au — all donations are tax-deductible

- Partner with us if your organisation works in disability, inclusion, or community: hello@kintsugiheroes.com.au

THE KINTSUGI CONNECTION

Watch the full conversation on YouTube: youtube.com/@KintsugiHeroes

Remember — we're all in this together.

Leanne Watson: Three Acts, a Diagnosis, and a Life Built on Community

Tue, 05 May 2026 05:00:00 +1000

Leanne Watson sees her life in three acts — and the third one started the day a freshly minted GP finally took her seriously.

For nearly a decade, doctors fobbed her off. Lose weight. Build glutes. You've had three kids. One specialist had her parade in her bra and undies and said she "looked fine." She was 42 when she was finally diagnosed with limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) — a rare, progressive neuromuscular condition that's been quietly dismantling her muscles ever since.

In this Episode 1 of Golden Threads, host Dan Dougherty sits down with Leanne — now 60, podcaster, former community radio host, and one of the warmest advocates you'll meet — to talk about what it's actually like to become disabled in slow motion. The optimism. The grief that doesn't announce itself. The husband who decided this happened to both of them. The strangers who pray over her in hotel lobbies. And the barista at Chadstone who looked her in the eye and changed how she felt that whole day.

This is a conversation about disability, inclusion, marriage, motherhood, advocacy, and the simple radical act of saying hello.

Key Takeaways

- A life in three acts. Leanne maps her 60 years into three chapters — the privileged childhood and young marriage, the family-building decades, and the third act that began the moment she was diagnosed at 42.

- The cost of being dismissed. Nine years of being fobbed off by doctors before a young GP ordered the right blood test. A reminder that women, especially, get told their bodies are "just changing."

- "This has happened to the both of us." Leanne's husband Gary's quiet philosophy — and what it teaches us about love, partnership, and refusing to make disability a solo project.

- Inclusion is small, daily, and specific. From the strangers who pray over her uninvited to the barista who simply looked her in the eye — Leanne unpacks what real inclusion looks like in everyday Australian life.

- Community is non-negotiable. Why she joined Women with Disabilities Victoria, started a radio show, and now hosts her own podcast — and why one phone call to a community group can change everything.

Guest Bio

Leanne Watson lives on the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria with her husband Gary. She is the eldest of four, a mum of three, and grandparent to a growing family. After a career at Westpac and decades of part-time work and community volunteering, Leanne was diagnosed with limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) at 42. Today she is the host of You, Me and Muscular Dystrophy, a former presenter of Rolling Through Wednesdays on Pulse FM, and an active member of Women with Disabilities Victoria (Barwon Hub).

Find Leanne:

- Website: Leanne's Wheel Life — leanneswheellife.com

- Podcast: You, Me and Muscular Dystrophy (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

- Instagram: @leanneswheellife

Resources Mentioned

- Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) — overview via Muscular Dystrophy Australia: mda.org.au

- Women with Disabilities Victoria (WDV) — wdv.org.au — Leanne is a member of the Barwon Hub

- Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) — wwda.org.au

- From the Outskirts — WDV's podcast featuring women with disabilities going about their lives

- Rolling Through Wednesdays — Leanne's former weekly spot on Pulse FM (community radio, Bellarine), supported by Loretta Hart

- You, Me and Muscular Dystrophy — Leanne's current podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple)

Timestamps

- 00:00 Cold open + welcome to Golden Threads

- 01:01 Meeting Leanne — and the breathing tube on the desk

- 02:42 What limb girdle muscular dystrophy actually is

- 03:53 A life in three acts: childhood in Melbourne's east

- 06:11 Meeting Gary in Year 11 — and a life built early

- 08:19 Marriage, motherhood, and a quietly privileged life

- 08:49 Something starts changing at 35

- 09:46 Nine years of being fobbed off by specialists

- 11:43 The blood test that finally cracked it open

- 12:11 Diagnosis at 42 — and the third act begins

- 13:35 The slow inventory: high heels, toilet frames, stairs

- 17:58 "Each time I thought, this is it. It's not going to get worse."

- 19:21 Optimism, pragmatism, and protection

- 20:15 Gary's philosophy: "this has happened to the both of us"

- 22:08 Parenting through progression

- 23:07 What end of life looks like from here

- 25:30 Loneliness, community, and being seen

- 25:52 What it's like being treated as "different"

- 27:46 The strangers who pray over her uninvited

- 30:30 The wheelchair "speed jokes" — and why they sting

- 31:54 What Dan got wrong, and what real inclusion looks like

- 34:30 Choice, consent, and being pushed without permission

- 34:56 The Chadstone barista who got it right

- 36:32 Anatomy of LGMD — what it does muscle by muscle

- 40:22 Why Leanne started You, Me and Muscular Dystrophy

- 41:18 The power of community — book club, WDV, Pulse FM

- 44:00 The radio show, the illness, and finding podcasting

- 45:26 "Just make one phone call."

- 47:48 Final reflections: we are only as strong as our weakest link

- 50:08 Outro

Call to Action

If this conversation moved you, here's how to help us share more like it:

- Subscribe to Golden Threads and the Kintsugi Heroes podcast wherever you listen

- Leave a rating or review — it's the single biggest thing you can do to help us reach more listeners

- Share this episode with one person who needs to hear it today

- Donate to support our storytelling: kintsugiheroes.com.au — all donations are tax-deductible

- Partner with us if your organisation works in disability, inclusion, or community: hello@kintsugiheroes.com.au

The Kintsugi Connection

🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube: youtube.com/@KintsugiHeroes

About Kintsugi Heroes

We believe the people who've been broken and rebuilt have something the rest of us need to hear.

Partner with us: hello@kintsugiheroes.com.au

Donate (tax-deductible): kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate

Connect:

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Remember — we're all in this together.

Disability, Resilience & Real Stories | Golden Threads Podcast Trailer

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:00:00 +1000

Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

Golden Threads is a Kintsugi Heroes podcast hosted by Daniel Dougherty, sharing honest, lived-experience conversations with people navigating disability, identity, and inclusion.

This series explores what it really means to adapt, persevere, and live fully in a world still learning what accessibility and inclusion look like in practice.

Each episode brings forward real stories — not focused on labels, but on people, relationships, and lived experience.

Topics covered:

disability, resilience, lived experience, inclusion, accessibility, identity, mental health, community, personal stories

About Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is an Australian not-for-profit dedicated to strengthening wellbeing through lived-experience storytelling.

We create safe, respectful spaces where stories can be shared with dignity — helping people feel seen, heard, and connected.

Learn more or support the work:

https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate/#donate