PRESENTATION
How to go from a spinal cord injury to working in an emergency department as a doctor to flying an aeroplane
When it comes to disability, the sky is the limit (these days, not even!). However, limits are frequently prescribed by society for people living with disability. It is through the passion and power of people, including professionals like Rehabilitation Counsellors, that these limits can be shattered, not just to benefit people with disability, but our world.
About the Presenter
Dinesh Palipana was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland.
Dinesh is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate, and researcher. Halfway through medical school, he was involved in a motor vehicle accident that caused a cervical spinal cord injury. Dinesh has completed an Advanced Clerkship in Radiology at Harvard University and works in the emergency department at the Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a Senior Lecturer at Griffith University and adjunct Research Fellow at the Menzies Health Institute of Queensland, researching spinal cord injuries.
Dinesh is a doctor for the Gold Coast Titans physical disability rugby team and senior advisor to the Disability Royal Commission. He is an ambassador to the Human Rights Commission’s Includeability program and was a 2021 International Day of People with Disability ambassador. He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia and an advisory board member to HealthyLife. Dinesh was the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service’s Junior Doctor of the Year in 2018 and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019. He was the third Australian to be awarded a Henry Viscardi Achievement Award. He was the 2021 Griffith University Young Alumnus of the Year.
Dinesh was the Queensland Australian of the Year for 2021. In 2022, he was listed as number 33 in the Courier Mail’s top 100 power list for Queensland’s most influential in health and wellbeing. His autobiography, Stronger, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2022.
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