“It was a seemingly ordinary day, a week out from Christmas in 2020. My mum had COVID, so I was tasked to go into Civic and buy my Brother-in-Laws gift from her. I was in the midst of a panic attack due to the crushing crowds when a familiar voice yelled out “Hey, Sinkers!” It was Jose Arranz.

I’d taught with Jose at Fraser Primary School and hadn’t seen him for a while. Then he says to me “Hey, Lola and I have been helping out at this place called AUA. It’s wonderful. I think you would love it!” From there, I had a hot chocolate at Max Brenna with the founder, Fiona Jarvis, and utterly fell in LOVE with this magical place of inclusion, called Abilities Unlimited Australia. I left that first meeting with Fiona thinking, “I have to be a part of what she’s created”.

I began volunteering at Evatt on a Saturday morning. It quickly became my happy place. I had always been passionate about teaching, special needs and sport and here was this place that combined all three in a supportive way. I made friends with instructors, chatted with families and connected with the participants. I’d found my people. I was primarily at Balance and Glide, but I was happy to be the all-rounder. I’d go where the people needed me.

I wasn’t looking for another job, I was doing okay teaching, but when it was announced AUA was hiring a Program Manager for Land I knew I had to apply. I had been volunteering for a year and a half, and I wanted to do more to help. I even cried in the interview when I talked about how much I loved volunteering at AUA and it being my Happy Place every weekend. I danced around my apartment for an hour after I got the call that I’d got the job and here I am, Abilities Unlimited Australia Land Manager.”

Brooke Sinclair, Land Program Manager, Abilities Unlimited Australia

“I was a bright eyed and bushy tailed undergraduate student in sports and exercise science at the University of Canberra. I was at the stage of my studies where I needed to complete an internship and funnily enough, I did not start my internship with AUA (then known as cyclabilities). I was assigned to Ginninderra Little Athletics Club (GLAC). It was there that I met the founder of AUA, Fiona Jarvis, which to say the least was a life changing friendship and experience to follow.

I worked with Fiona in delivering and designing GLAC “Tiny Tots” program, which was aimed at 3–5- year-old kids to teach them fundamental movement skills through fun and engaging games. Much to my surprise, I discovered that I loved working with kids and had quite a knack for connecting and communicating with them. Once Fiona had seen me in action, she casually mentioned the Cyclabilities program that she started a year or so prior and thought I would be a perfect fit. This casual mention quickly grew to an insistence that I come and check out the program. Given I was at the beginning of my career I was more than happy to give it a shot.

I turned up early Saturday morning in 2017 not really knowing what to expect from the program and the families and participants that attended. As soon as the session started, I was completely and utterly awe struck with the impact and importance of the cyclabilities program. Riding a bike is such an important and fundamental life skill that everyone needs to learn irrespective of age or ability. It provides, freedom, independence, fitness, and most importantly fun. At the time I had no real understanding of the challenges that additional needs people and their families faced on a daily basis, and it was the first weekend at cycalabilities that really opened my eyes. This realization awoke a previously unknown passion for access and inclusion. Since that moment, I dived in head first and put my hand up for any and all things AUA related.

Now, fast forward 12 months, I had become a swim instructor during the week for extra income. Word got out amongst the AUA families that I was a qualified swim instructor and with that came numerous requests for me to teach their child how to swim. Unfortunately, I did not have the capacity to fulfil any of the requests. However, I did see the overwhelming need for a specialised water safety program. I approached Fiona with the idea of creating one under the AUA banner and framework. She could not have been more supportive of the idea and within a matter of weeks we were writing the program framework for Waterabilities.

Once Waterabilities launched in 2019, I was working as one of the senior instructors for the program until its closure in 2020 due to COVID. During the closure, I had to seek work elsewhere, which left me empty because I had to leave my passion behind. But luckily in 2022 AUA sought to re-open the program and the position for program manager was available. I jumped at the opportunity and was fortunate enough to be accepted in the position. I have now been the Waterabilities program manager for a little over a year now and I couldn’t be happier. “

Alexander Gill, Waterabilities Program Manager, Abilities Unlimited Australia