Necessity has driven humankind to strategise, design, create and innovate. This need has resulted in contributions, both beneficial, and at times detrimental because we have always strived for ways to fulfil a real or perceived need.

I didn’t always fly, drive and travel with a disability. I took the ease of the booking and travel process very much for granted until Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) forced me to reconsider how I travel, where I travel, and whether travelling was actually worth the effort, in an ablest world where processes, planes and accommodation is very rarely designed for disability.

Revelatory experiences come in all shapes and sizes and mine came in the form of a five-day stay on one of Australia’s tropical treasures - Hamilton Island. The peaceful, palm-filled hilly mound is a tiny part of the island enclave known as the Whitsundays in North Queensland.

My epiphany was:

‘I am – undeniably – physically disabled.’