I have had a few friends that have physical disabilities, however two of these people have impacted on my life in various ways, the first was Mike Duggan, and Mike taught me much, Mike has little speech and very little control of his body, he was born with severe cerebral palsy.
I met Mike when I was at university and he asked me for a hand one day, we were doing the same course and I was a year ahead of him. Mike had some issues when it came to help from other students, and I was one of only three males studying social science in the 80's at QUT Carseldine campus. It made his choice of people to help with toileting issues very narrow, he basically had any one of 50 women or me.
As time went by I became Mike's friend, helper in the library, typist and sometime tutor.
I also was an eager student who learned much from someone who was intellectually superior to me, but through his situation, not able to express his intellect or feelings about his life goals.
I was privileged to be able to help Mike when he was advocating for the deinstitutionalisation of people with a disability. Mike was a resident in Seven Oaks , a place where people with cerebral palsy were parked and lived a regimented existence almost totally dependent on others, it was managed by the "Spastic Centre" which in itself says something.
I travelled the journey with Mike as he transitioned for being institutionalised to independant living, helped him move furniture, change relationship dynamics with others in similar situations, move from shared accomodation to his own unit in West End and establish aroutine that most of us would take for granted. When I say I helped, I should say I provided some muscle and became an obsever of interest, it was Mike that was in the vanguard and showed me how you should cope with adversity and survive with dignity.
Mike taught me what it was like to be humble, caring and loving and expect not much back in return, Mike had no chance of having a physical relationship with a woman, he was heterosexual, but had resigned himself to being alone. I think it was this that gave him the desire to become a priest and offer pastoral care to fulfil his life. Mike is the most committed catholic, with a fervent belief in faith, which confounds me because I am an atheist of the first order, the sort that comes from being a cultural catholic with the smarts to realise that Marx was right when he stated that "religion is the panacea of the masses".
I was just catholic enough to have my youngest daughter Natalie baptised at Mike's insistence, he was her godfather and they are still in touch.
After graduation Mike found work in the Queensland advocacy service, but his desire to be a priest was thwarted by the church he loved, as they thought he was too disabled to be able to do what was required to be an active clergyman.
I struggle to find the right words to express the frustration Mike felt, and as a consequence the frustration I felt for him, so much to give and so few to receive. Mike lives alone save for some helpers twice a day.
I, on the other had have had the good fortune to work, enjoy relationships, marriages, travel , sport and politics with varying degrees of success, just because I managed gulp a little more air in the birth canal.
There has to be a remedy, where we as a society come up with something better for those among us with a disability, we as brothers and sisters need to lobby government to come up with innovative solutions , so that everyone has a chance to reach their potential in life whether it be personal, academic or professional.
The noises out of Canberra about a national insurance scheme have some merit and must not be put on the back burner. The attitude of politicians like Bill Shorten are to be lauded and I hope there is a form of osmosis that seeps through lesser people on parliament and there eyes are opened.

Todd Winther is 26 years of age and has the ability to be anything he wants, at the moment he is channelling his energy into his education and a fledgling political career. Tod also has cerebral palsy but he has excellent speech, which gives him a power denied to Mike.
Todd came into my life through the ALP, as a branch member and we have been through a bit together in the hurly burley of local branch politics that can get pretty vicious at times, as ego's and ambitions take hold. Todd will go far in politics if he chooses, people underestimate him because he is in a wheelchair and the fact that he looks younger than his 26 years mainly because he is seated.
Todd is currently doing his PHD in politics, I believe that those who can't see past his wheel chair will take notice of Dr Todd Winther, academic, politician and person.
The ALP is supposed to be the progressive party but I still encounter uneducated comment from party members about Todd, this has led to a few verbal stoushes with a group we call the "cows" or the "gows" (grumpy old women) and a few others because their attitude to people with a disability, they are either condescending, patronising or dismissive and it riles me. It seems that these folk anchored in a different generation refuse to see people, they see "chair", "disability", or worse still "child". What amazes me even more is that this unenlightened bunch are seated firmly in the left faction, the supposed traditional home of the bleeding hearts.
Todd Winther has demonstrated a loyalty of the type that any soldier would have loved to have experienced from his comrades, and being a returned soldier I value it. Being an active member of the labor party, loyalty leads to a brotherhood of those like minded persons with similar values and ideals, this grouping and a loose coalition of unions is the basis of the factions in the ALP. This leads to lifelong friendships.
I have no fears that Todd will make it, he is smarter than most, he just lacks the " emotional nous" that comes with old age, but he learns fast and will mature in to somewhat of a sage. His real power will come in his mid thirties, when he has been around the block a few times, had his heart broken a few more times and learns, that it will be repaired by one of the few special women that exist in the world (and they do),that fall in love with intellect, soul, heart and loyalty. These women are found in politics and academia, usually in the humanities, because that is why they are there . My son Will is a good looking able bodied man and he seemed like he was destined to a life of heartbreak, till in his mid thirties he met the love of his life.
I have been around the block a few times and I had to wait until my late forties to meet the love of my life. I hope Todd develops the patience to override testosterone, loneliness and the need for female company. The constant vigilance as the parade of fertile creatures float by in the stream of life can be pretty distracting for one studying and searching. Sometimes we feel we could chuck it all in for the want of a good woman, I am sure there are women out there who feel the same way.
Women are going to have to take the time to look inside, to open up the layers that make the man, else they will be rejected in anger by a young man that wants it on his terms and has yet to learn the art of compromise and patience when it comes to sharing his heart, for with this young man it seems it is all or nothing and as a defence mechanism, anger and work fill any voids that could otherwise be filled with a slower form of affection and love. Patience, patience, patience!