Wheeling Around the World … with Shane Hryhorec

Emma Myers 00:00

Access Granted is a production for Powered Media. Welcome to Access Granted, a podcast for anyone seeking inclusion when it comes to living with disability. I'm Emma Myers, and in this edition, I hear how one slip changed life and triggered his activism.

Shane Hryhorec 00:31

I slipped and I went into the swimming pool in a strange angle, broke my neck, and then I started drowning. It was a pretty intense moment thinking about so many different things going through your head at one time, thinking about your family, thinking about your colleagues. It's interesting the things that you think about. And then I woke up five days later out of a coma and I had a tube down my throat. I was lucky to be alive, but at that moment, I knew that my life had changed forever.

Emma Myers 00:54

Access Granted is where the personal and the political collide. It's curious conversations between people living with disability, hearing about advocacy, the push for change, and discussing ideas for a more accessible world. You're listening to Access Granted with Emma Myers. 

Shane Hryhorec is an entrepreneur and passionate advocate for people with a disability. Recently making a name for himself online with his travel stories and misadventures, Shane hopes to use his profile to educate and in particular make Australia's beautiful beaches accessible for all. I don't want it to be too serious. So Shane, I want to start by asking you for an amusing tale from your childhood.

Shane Hryhorec

I used to play rugby when I was younger and I wasn't very good, but one day someone gave me what's called a troll doll and you rub its hair for luck and it has a frizzy hair and I did that and I then got nine tries in one game so it turns out that a little bit of superstition made me a very good rugby player for a very short period of time. Well I think we all need a troll doll every now and again don't you? That's right get a troll doll and your life will change. Just don't make a thing like Justin Timberlake. 

Emma Myers

So what were you like as a kid growing up?

Growing up I was very active, I did lots of sports - I swam, I did gymnastics, I played Aussie rules, rugby... so I had a very active, you know, lifestyle growing up. And we used to live in a town called Toowoomba, so we used to regularly go on family road trips to the Gold Coast and spend our Christmas holidays there and spend a lot of time on the beach - so very very much an active family, and a lot of outdoor activities.

Emma Myers 03:03

I read that you were in an accident. Do you remember what you were thinking in the moments before you jumped into the pool?

Shane Hryhorec

Yes, that's correct. I was in an accident in 2007. I was in a swimming pool and I got out of the spa, and the spa and the pool were connected, and as I got out of the spa to get into the swimming pool I lost my footing and I slipped and I went into the swimming pool in a strange angle. I then hit the side or bottom and I'm not sure which one, and broke my neck... and then I started drowning, so I actually remember drowning and it was a pretty intense moment, thinking about so many different things going through your head at one time, thinking about your family, thinking about your colleagues. It's interesting the things that you think about as you're drowning. 

And next thing I know I couldn't hold my breath anymore. I drowned, and then I woke up five days later out of a coma and I had a tube down my throat making me breathe and I was lucky to be alive - but at that moment I knew that my life had changed forever.

Emma Myers 04:02

What were you thinking in the moments after you woke up from your coma?

Shane Hryhorec

Well, in a way I remember the fight to live - and when I woke up out of the coma I was alive so I was very happy, but I also was aware that my body was very damaged. I didn't know to what extent it was damaged, but I was aware that broken and damaged my body kind of pretty bad. So the first thoughts that were going through my head were how happy it was to be alive, but also trying to come to terms with what my new reality was about to be.

Emma Myers 04:40

And did you think about going back into any of those sports to begin with?

Shane Hryhorec

Well, I was very active, involved in sports. I wouldn't say that I loved sports to be honest with you. My family, a very active family and so they just put me in all the sports they could put me into. But one thing I really wanted to do is get back into the swimming pool and learn how to swim again. After breaking my neck, obviously going for runs is something you can't do anymore, so you've got to find new activities that you enjoy. I was very nervous the first time I got back into the swimming pool again and I did that at rehab down at Royal Talbot in Melbourne and I got into the pool and it was a very scary first experience. 

But once I overcame that experience, I started swimming short distances a bit and a bit more and a little bit more and now I can actually swim two kilometres without stopping and I just literally, speaking to you today, I'm actually outside of the swimming pool now and I've just finished a 1.7 kilometre swim. And swimming is a big part of my life of fitness and wellbeing and exercise and just yeah, it's a great activity for me. So I'm guessing that's how I kind of... I found out how tricky it can be going to the beach of the world. To answer, well, look, I used to when I grew up, I also used to be a surf lifesaver in Adelaide for a surf club called Grange in South Australia. And I used to spend a lot of time at the beach and love the beach. 

And then after I had my accident and I just assumed the beaches were no longer accessible or no longer a place for a person with disability. And so I just came to terms with that pretty quickly. And then one day I saw some beach matting, a photo of beach matting on some sand somewhere around the world. And I was like, Wow, that's amazing. And then I did some research and I was like, you know what, maybe, maybe we need to get products like that into Australia. And so I did. I started importing beach matting and beach bullchairs and providing them to people and councils and governments all around Australia.

And I've helped work towards making over 100 beaches in Australia accessible for people with disabilities. Have you ever looked at making beach accessibility more permanent in a way? I know that I myself haven't set forward on a beach in Australia for 15 years because it's just so hard. And I ended up going to Waikiki Beach in Hawaii last year. And I found that they actually had a permanent concrete walkway to just before the tide comes in. So is there any inspiration for that sort of thing?

07:34

The challenging thing in Australia is that all the beaches are managed by the government under what's called crown land. And there's very strict rules about what you can and can't put on sand. So in Australia, you're not allowed to put anything permanent on sand. That means no concrete pathways, unfortunately. But beach matting, like the product could maybe mat. You can roll out and you can actually leave it out all year round. There are many beaches in Australia that have their matting up permanently. A great example is Altoona Beach and in Williamstown, Hobson's Bay Council, they leave their matting out all year round. It doesn't matter what day, what time of the day, you can go to the beach and enjoy it.

But it really comes down to councils and councils that care about people with disabilities, well, they make their beaches accessible. And those that really care about people with disabilities, they make their beaches accessible all year round and for extended periods. So it makes it semi-permanent. 

Emma Myers:

Have you had any trouble with councils trying to make the beaches accessible? 

Shane Hryhorec:

Well, if I was to tell you about all the problems I've had with councils trying to make beaches accessible, we would be here speaking for a very long period of time. There are councils out there that care and there's councils out there that just don't care. There's a few councils - like Waverley Council who manage Bondi, and their Beach Accessibility program is what I call tokenistic... and they have some matting but they don't roll it out very often and it's very difficult for people to access [?new], so yes it is very difficult working with councils.

But there are a lot of councils out there that are really proactive and care a lot. Great example is City of Charles Sturt in South Australia, they've made a beach called Henley Beach Accessible in 2016. So there are some beaches out there that are real stand-out accessible and inclusive beaches and inclusive councils.

Emma Myers 09:29

Give us a bit of insight, what are some of the objections you've faced?

Shane Hryhorec

Oh look there's so many, a lot of it's cost, a lot of it says that our beach is not suitable because the tide changes. There's a lot of different reasons that people have for not making their beach accessible but a lot of those issues can all be overcome but they've just got to have the will and the desire to actually be inclusive but yeah there are so many little excuses that I hear all the time and most of it to be honest with you just comes down to the attitude of the council.

Emma Myers 10:00

I can imagine. As a wheelchair user you said that you also provide manual wheelchairs, what got you into that field?

Shane Hryhorec

After my accident my first wheelchair that I was prescribed in rehab was awful, it was big, black, heavy and it felt like a shopping trolley and I did not enjoy it, I did not like it and I did not give me very good self esteem and confidence to go out and see the world and be myself. My next wheelchair was a wheelchair that I liked more - but then I had an idea, I'm like, Well what about if there are wheelchair companies out there that gave people with disabilities wheelchairs that they actually love? And then I was like, You know what? I'll start my own company and provide wheelchairs that are great - and that's what I did in 2013, and yeah the company has been growing strong ever since.

Emma Myers 10:56

What kinds of things do people love about your chairs?

Shane Hryhorec

Well, number one, we make, you know, the people that work in our company are mostly people with disabilities. So they're people that understand people with disabilities because they have lived experience. But our wheelchairs are light, they're colorful, they're fun. And we don't do anything boring. And I mean, some people want a boring wheelchair. And if that's the case, we give them a very plain looking wheelchair. But we work with customers to design chairs that are beautiful and, you know, represent them as an individual, whether it's colorful spokes or a colorful frame, or even stuff like leather wrapping and wooden trims and stuff like that.

So we go above and beyond when it comes to working with a client to make sure that we give them a product that reflects who they are as an individual. 

Emma Myers:

Are there new materials that make it easier to push and to get around in? 

Shane Hryhorec:

There's always new materials out there that keep coming out to improve wheelchairs, but one of the biggest things that have come into the market over the last 10 years is what we call Power Assist. And they're motors that can go onto wheelchairs and technology that make it easy to get around while staying in a manual chair. And there's a lot of power chair users out there that also have manual wheelchairs with joystick controls and Power Assist so that they can have the benefits of a manual wheelchair when they want to use it in a power chair as well.

Emma Myers 12:20

I know exactly what you mean. I invested in one of those last year and I am going to show my colleagues here how easy it is to navigate airports. Yeah. Very shortly. As I'm sure you have a vast experience and opinion on.

Shane Hryhorec 12:44

Yes, that's right. Now I've had, I've been flying with airlines for many years and had all the experiences, good, bad and ugly over the years. Yeah. So I could tell many stories about flying.

Emma Myers

What are some of your, I guess, more interesting ones to be listeners to hear about?

Shane Hryhorec 13:04

Well, on my travel page, the Wheel Around the World, TikTok and Instagram, it's on YouTube and Facebook as well. But I had an experience a couple of months ago where I was flying from Japan to South Korea with an airline called Asiana. And I arrived three hours before my flight. I was the first person to check in. And I had a lot of issues with my batteries, which were certified for flying, but the staff were really confused and didn't know what to do and went back and forth and back and forth. And it took two and a half hours. And I was at the point where they were telling me that I wasn't going to be able to fly on this day. And I was really anxious and frustrated and upset. And yeah, and I was coming to terms with the fact that I'm going to have to find another way to get to South Korea.

And then finally, after two and a half hours of this ordeal, they finally said to me that they will let me fly [?live] only on this one special occasion, which was just such an awful, awful thing for them to say, an awful experience to go through. And I got on the plane and I was feeling very drained and defeated, and it did affect me for a couple of days. But the interesting thing is, I was in South Korea for five days and then I got on another plane from South Korea to Munich with Lufthansa and the check-in process took me three minutes. So it's just amazing how one airline can give absolute hell to a person with a disability and use all these rules and processes and protocols which can be pretty awful. And another airline can be like, Yep, no, we know the rules.

Emma Myers 14:30

It's fine for you. And it could be a smooth process, which it should be, a smooth process for everyone travelling, no matter if you have a disability or not. And how can we combat that sort of treatment?

Shane Hryhorec 14:42

It's not a very simple answer. I think we need governments working together. We need airlines working together. We need the aviation civil bodies that govern the airlines working together and we need a bit of an approach to create a standard on what it should be like for people with disabilities travelling. Like, great example, I was in Bali the other day and I was coming back to Australia and the airline said that I wouldn't be able to take my wheelchair to the door and I said, Well, I refuse. And then they just, they were shocked that a person with disability would refuse to abandon their wheelchair at the checking counter and be pushed around by someone for two hours.

So it's just, you know, airlines getting training as well. So there's many things that need to be done in my opinion to improve the travel experience for people with disabilities. But unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of will and desire for those organisations to get together and make those changes, unfortunately.

Emma Myers 15:40

Do you feel that there are some countries which are more sympathetic to changing than others?

Shane Hryhorec

Absolutely. There are some of the countries I go to, the accessibility is amazing and attitude towards people with disabilities is great, and sometimes not so much. Like, great example, going to Japan, I didn't see any people with disabilities getting around, which posed the question to me and I was like, Where are all the people with disabilities? And then, same with South Korea. South Korea, sorry, less people with disabilities. So then, you know, I was wondering, you know, Where are they all? And also, if the people with disabilities aren't going out in community, then there's no drive for change to make those communities more accessible and inclusive.

But then going to other countries... like Grenoble, for instance, has been the most accessible, most inclusive city I've ever been to. And the footpaths are incredible. For instance, a big pain in Melbourne is there's e-scooters and rental e-bikes blocking footpaths everywhere. But in Grenoble, They're not, like you have to park them in certain areas so they don't get littered over footpaths and block the path. So every city I go to has different attitudes and different approaches to inclusion.

And I'm not sure, but I think, you know, all cities getting together and creating a universal standard on what actually is inclusion might be a really great idea. And it's, you know, it's like a lucky dip when you go to a new country, you just don't know what you're going to experience and you just don't know what it's going to be like. But I mean, that's half the fun of travelling with a disability, I guess.

Emma Myers

You're listening to Access Granted with Emma Myers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but were you in Paris during the Paralympics?

Shane Hryhorec

I got to Paris just before the Paralympics started, which was really great because I got to see... you know, I go to Paris every couple of years, but I got to see what the preparation for the Olympics was like. And I've been hearing for the last 10 years going there, I was like, Yeah, we're getting ready for the Paralympics also, and the Olympics. And I wanted to go there just before to see if there's anything dramatic had changed. And I was quite surprised to realise, well, nothing had actually changed. The city was the same old city, the hotels were the same old hotels. So it was a whole bunch of marketing about, you know, we're doing all this stuff, but it really didn't feel any different.

It's still very difficult to find a public bathroom. So it definitely would have been a struggle for athletes with disabilities, not so much in the Olympic village, but when you finish and you want to go out and explore Paris and do the touristy things, it would be very, very difficult. But the one thing that's very accessible about Paris is the museums, all the museums - once you get inside, they're so well set up. And there's some really great videos I've done on all the different museums to go check out in Paris. There's a lot of people out there that live with disability that are afraid to travel. And I must say that it is daunting, absolutely. And things will always not go to plan. 

But I think it's important to go out and see the world and you are going to have some good travel days and you're going to have some not so great travel days. But you aren't going to have any travel days if you don't go out and go and see the world and explore. So if you're thinking about going out and travelling, I say just do it and do some planning and also check out my videos too, because you can see where I've been and see what isn't accessible. But yeah, go out there, explore the world and see what is out there on offer. And speaking of accessibility within sport, would you say yes to being involved in advising with men ahead of the games? 

I'd be keen to help advise any... anyone that wants to make anything more accessible and inclusive, anyone that comes to me and says, hey, Shane, you know, we want to be more inclusive for a beach or a council or a hotel, I just say yes, and I work with them to work out how. So if Brisbane rang me up and said, hey, would you like to help make our city more accessible and inclusive before the games, I would be like, yep, how can we do this? You're also advocating people working together.

Emma Myers 20:16

Where have you found allies in your campaigns?

Shane Hryhorec

Well, that's a very good question. It's challenging because I don't think I found a lot of allies and other people with disabilities that are working towards the same goals. But I feel like the attitudes of organisations are very stubborn. You know, I can't say that, you know, through my travel and telling my experiences, like I had one experience at Disneyland in Japan where It was an ordeal just to get inside the park and then I wasn't allowed to go on any rides because of my disability and so after three and a half hours of the park I left and that video has had over 15 million views.

So the interesting thing is, you would think Disneyland would see that video and go you know what let's call this person and let's learn how we can do better and of course absolutely nothing at all. That's a great opportunity for a business and organisation to become an ally with a person with disability and find ways to do better. So I think there's a lot of ally missed opportunities out there but I do find myself aligning myself with different advocates and other people working towards the same goals.

Emma Myers

And do you feel like your vlog is kind of getting the attention that allows you to influence change?

Shane Hryhorec 21:36

I think it does in a very unspoken way because you don't sometimes you can't see the proof of your pudding. You know you do all this work creating content and showing people what it's like but sometimes you don't see the change but what is very beautiful is when you see comments on the videos and some of them are you know I'm a designer or I'm an architect or I'm a studying student architect and I had no idea about the challenges faced with people with disabilities and now I'm going to apply it to my work.

So it definitely has an impact on people's lives. And it's interesting though because on one of the comments on the Disney video someone said Disney managers need to see this and another person commented going I'm working at Disney and I can tell you first hand this video has gotten around and they've seen it. So I believe that the videos are reaching people that they need to reach but it's still up to them to make decisions on whether they want to change how they run as an organisation or a business to be more accessible and more inclusive.

Emma Myers 22:42

Are you getting opportunities from travel companies or travel-related situations where they're now inviting you to review their accessibility?

Shane Hryhorec

Absolutely not. People don't want me to come to their businesses because they're terrified about what their experience is going to be. A great example is, if you've got a house that you're not proud about because it's not clean and tidy, you don't invite anyone in. If you've got a business that you think might not be accessible and might not be inclusive, well, you don't want people with disabilities to come there because you're worried about what they're going to say or do.

I'm pretty honest about my travel content and I say it as it is. There's no glossing it up. A lot of travel content out there is they just show you the best of it and then you get there and you realize, oh, it's not exactly as they portrayed it. Whereas my content is exactly as I experience it. But I do feel... Like, you know, my travel content is still very new. I've only been doing it for just over three months. So I think it's still evolving and still growing and still changing. So I'm excited to see where it's going to end up.

Emma Myers

You said that you're not being invited to review places. How does that make you feel?

Shane Hryhorec

I think it's better to not be invited, to be honest with you. I'd rather be someone that just rocks up and shares my experience - good, bad and ugly - because then I mean, if they invite you, well, they typically want you to tell a positive story. Do you know what I mean? Whereas I'd rather not be invited and I'd rather just rock up and tell people exactly how it is. So it doesn't bother me at all.

Emma Myers

Do you have any tactics that you use to influence change within your videos or just in general?

Shane Hryhorec 24:27

I think the videos themselves are a tactic. I think showing the world what it's like for a person with disability, showing the challenges, showing the barriers, explaining the problems. Well, by doing that, you're giving a roadmap to make things better. So then all businesses need to do and the public need to do is watch the videos, take notes and make change. So like I said, the content is a tactic. 

Emma Myers:

Is it some part of you that takes the pride in being another one to guess?

Shane Hryhorec 24:59

I do not take pride in it at all. I take pride in pointing out where people have failed to be inclusive and accessible, but I don't take pride in exposing an organisation, for instance, for not being inclusive. There's no pride in that at all. I'd rather be going around the world sharing positive stories of inclusion. And maybe one day that will happen when the world is truly accessible and inclusive. 

Emma Myers 25:25

What's next for you? Do you have anything up your sleeve? Anything that you want to improve on what you're already doing?

Shane Hryhorec

The next steps, hopefully, with Wheel Around the World is this project started with a goal to see travel content on television in the mainstream. Our global population, 20% of the globe has disability. But what percentage of travel content on streaming services like Netflix and Prime and Amazon and Channel 10, Channel 9, Channel 7, ABC, what percentage of that content is targeted at people with disabilities? And it's less than 0.05%. It's probably closer to 0%. And I think the world is now ready for a TV show or a streaming show that is targeted about travelling with a disability. 

And the funny thing is that out of the 55,000 followers on TikTok and 15 million views or whatever it is, a lot of them are not people with disabilities. People that don't have disabilities, they love to learn and experience what it's like. But you also get to learn about travel at the same time. So I think it's a really great niche. And my goal one day is to hopefully see Wheel Around the World - or if not that, another show - out there with representation of people with disabilities and to show what can be achieved and what you can do with a disability if you want to, and with the passion to go see the world.

Emma Myers 26:55

And you said you've only been joining the vlog for three months. What's the biggest thing you've learned out of the experience?

Shane Hryhorec

Oh... that's a very good question. Well, I've learned so much. I've learned how to create content, how to work with editors... how to, yeah, I guess one of the biggest things is how to capture a story and share it. That's the biggest thing I've learned, and I've been... involved with creating content for years for my work and stuff like that, but doing it on this scale, like there are so many videos now. I think we're up to about 120 videos and there's another 40, 50 of them are coming out soon. So there's a lot of work involved with capturing and sharing these stories. So that's probably what I've learned is how to manage that.

Emma Myers 27:47

And just finally, what does access granted look like to you?

Shane Hryhorec

Well, if you grant someone access, it means that you're making things accessible and inclusive. You're including people with disabilities. So access granted means inclusion.

Emma Myers

Thanks so much for joining us on the Access Granted podcast. And if you enjoyed this edition of access granted, let us know on Facebook at Powerd Media - that's Powerd with just one E - P O W E R D - Media. And you can find the next edition when it comes out next week, wherever you download your podcasts.