When 2022 Australian of the Year and Paralympian Dylan Alcott was growing up, he experienced the barriers people living with disabilities know all too well.

“My brother and I – we are a couple of years apart – started playing sport, he played AFL and got a $100 pair of footy boots,” Alcott told The New Daily.

“I needed a $7000 wheelchair just to try wheelchair tennis.”

His lived experiences were a driving factor in the creation of the Dylan Alcott Foundation, which provides scholarships to universities, sporting equipment, business support for start-ups and mentorship to young people living with disabilities.

Alcott said people living with disabilities need and deserve the same opportunities as able-bodied people.

“They deserve to be treated like normal people and go to uni, play sports, get a job and follow their dreams,” he said.

“That’s why we started our foundation to enable as many people living with disabilities to have the same opportunities.”

The Dylan Alcott Foundation is holding its inaugural Giving Day on Wednesday, November 1 and is hoping to raise more than $100,000 to directly support grant recipients around Australia.

Alcott said the foundation’s partners will match every dollar donated by the public from now until the end of the Giving Day, up to a total of $100,000.

“We want to eliminate those barriers for as many people as we can,” he said.

“One in five young people in this country have an invisible or visible disability, and we deserve the same opportunities as anybody else to live life.”

The journey

Eighteen-year-old Cooper Smith, who lives with cerebral palsy, is one of the recipients of the Alcott Foundation’s grants.

He said the grant gave him his mixer to start his DJ journey as a professional, and he has now played in front of 6000 people at Ability Fest.

“It was amazing to be able to play on that big stage before Hilltop Hoods,” he said.

“I loved that I could share my music with so many people and that I could show the audience that people with a disability can smash their goals and work hard.”

Dylan Alcott, Cooper Smith and a couple of other Aussie legends. Photo: Cooper Smith

Smith now plays across clubs, pubs, festivals and corporate events around Australia, and recently released his first single Stay, which charted at No.20 on the ARIA Club Charts.

Alcott said the foundation “is the thing we are most proud of”.

“We want to double the number of people we can support. There are nearly one million disabled young people in Australia,” he said.

“It’s not just about supporting directly through scholarships and grants, but supporting them through the journey as well.”

Recipients receive a customer grant to ensure they get the most out of the support they receive.

Supporting people with disabilities

Donations are already open and will close at 11.59pm on Wednesday, November 1, and Alcott said the foundation is always looking for people to support.

“If you are reading this and you are a musician and want support, or working in a big business, we are always looking for people to support,” he said.

“If you are a young person with a disability and have a dream, sing out.”

He said beyond donating to the Giving Day, there are three things the general public can do to support people living with disabilities.

“Firstly, eliminate your unconscious bias on what you think we can do, because you need to lift your expectations,” he said.

“Secondly, listen to the lived experience. If you want to learn about someone, you ask them a question.

“Thirdly, able-bodied people are the gatekeepers to opportunities, you’ve got to open the door and give us the opportunity to be ourselves.”

The Dylan Alcott Foundation launched in 2017 and aims to remove barriers and provide equal opportunities for young Australians living with disabilities.