Ian Harvey: Unlocking Experiences and Rewriting What's Possible in Disability

SUMMARY

A diving accident on a Boxing Day cricket trip changed everything — for an 18-year-old named Jason, and for Ian Harvey, the young rugby coach standing beside him. In this episode of Golden Threads, host Daniel Dougherty sits down with Ian — National Foundation Manager for the WhatAbility Foundation in Perth — to trace a 20-year journey from fitness manager to one of Australia's most quietly powerful advocates for inclusion. Ian shares two friendships that reshaped his life (Jason and Doug, both quadriplegic after sudden injuries), the lessons they taught him about honesty, friendship, and fun, and his work today gifting tickets, experiences, and joy to families living with disability across Australia.

EPISODE PILLARS

• The phone call that changed everything
• Ian unpacks the day Jason — a 17-year-old he coached — broke his neck diving into a wave, and how that single moment rewired his understanding of disability, friendship, and luck.
• Friendship as the real teacher
• The lesson Jason gave a mental health nurse from a hospital bed — "I feel fine, I've got my mates here" — and what 20+ years of friendship has taught Ian about showing up, honesty, and not turning away from hard conversations.
• Why fun is the missing piece in disability support
• Ian explains why WhatAbility is built around joy, jet skis, footy and four-wheel-driving — and why "fun" is too often the first thing stripped from disability service models.
• Like Santa Claus every day
• Inside the WhatAbility Foundation: gifting up to six tickets a month per family, and partnering with the Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open, Fun Lab and Bounce to unlock experiences usually out of reach.
• One million experiences by 2035
• Ian's bold goal — and why his vision for an inclusive Australia means building events so good that people without disability in their lives feel like they're missing out.

GUEST BIO

Ian Harvey is the National Foundation Manager at the WhatAbility Foundation, based in Perth, Western Australia. After two decades managing health clubs and gyms across Australia, Ian pivoted into the disability sector — drawing on more than 20 years of personal experience supporting two close friends, Jason and Doug, both of whom acquired spinal injuries in their late teens and early twenties. Ian leads the Foundation's national mission to unlock one million inclusive experiences for people with disability and their families by 2035.

LINKS

WhatAbility Foundation — https://whatabilityfoundation.org.au

WhatAbility (NDIS provider) — https://whatability.com.au

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) — https://www.rda.org.au
• Australian Grand Prix sensory pit-lane tours
• Australian Open accessibility programming
• Fun Lab and Bounce inclusive sessions
• NDIS — https://www.ndis.gov.au

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to Golden Threads

00:43 Meet Ian Harvey

01:21 What is the WhatAbility Foundation

02:43 The fitness years

04:50 COVID burnout and the career pivot

05:41 "Two Steves" — meeting WhatAbility

07:38 First experience with disability — Jason

09:09 The diving accident

12:06 The phone call and the guilt

13:41 Mum's volunteer work with RDA

14:06 Doug's accident in Canada

16:08 Standing on the family's doorstep

20:00 The 20-year journey with Jason

22:18 "I feel fine" — what Jason said in hospital

24:27 Jason today — chartered accountant via voice control

27:39 The true value of friendship

30:02 Beyond physical reciprocity

33:25 Hidden disabilities and being comfortable with hard questions

36:31 Feeling like you get more than you give

40:09 Like Santa Claus every day

40:42 The Australian Grand Prix collaboration

42:42 Inside the WhatAbility model

46:06 No such thing as a barrier

49:22 Meeting WhatAbility — the night at the footy

52:18 Society and hidden disabilities

53:55 The future — 1 million experiences by 2035

55:34 Building a one-stop platform for inclusion

58:40 Closing words and gratitude

CALL TO ACTION

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If this story resonated, explore more from our Disability Series — honest conversations with advocates, carers, and people with lived experience reshaping what inclusion looks like in Australia.

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