Content warning

At 16, Matt Caruana attempted to take his own life. He survived, acquiring a complete spinal cord injury and becoming a wheelchair user.

While recovering in hospital, Matt was consumed by the same belief that had followed him for years: that he was worthless. Then, during a train ride with his mum, a complete stranger asked him a confronting question:

“What are you going to do about it now?”

That moment did not instantly remove Matt’s depression, but it changed the direction of his life. Instead of asking “Why me?”, he began asking “What now?”

In this deeply honest conversation with Angus O’Loughlin, Matt shares the reality of surviving a suicide attempt, adjusting to life with a spinal cord injury and slowly rebuilding his identity. He explains why meaningful connection matters, what parents can do when a young person is struggling and how opening up helped transform his relationships with his family and friends.

Matt also discusses finding purpose through sharing his story, breaking a Guinness World Record and becoming a competitive para climber. For Matt, strength is no longer about appearance or external validation. It is about contributing to other people and making hope visible.

This episode explores suicide prevention, men’s mental health, disability, resilience, spinal cord injury, wheelchair life, para climbing and the power of choosing to move forward one day at a time.

• Matt’s experience of attempting suicide at 16
• Acquiring a complete spinal cord injury and becoming a wheelchair user
• The belief that he was worthless and why he rejected support
• The stranger whose confronting question changed his direction
• Why being present is essential when supporting someone
• Matt’s advice for parents of young people experiencing mental health challenges
• Using a traffic-light system to begin difficult conversations
• How vulnerability strengthened Matt’s relationships
• Rebuilding independence following a spinal cord injury
• Finding meaning by contributing to other people
• Breaking a Guinness World Record to “make hope visible”
• Discovering competitive para climbing
• Why Matt hopes to compete at the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games
• How Matt defines his worth today

This episode contains detailed discussion of suicide, suicidal thoughts and mental ill-health. Please take care while listening.

If you or someone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, text 0477 13 11 14, or access its 24/7 online chat. If life is in immediate danger, call 000. Lifeline crisis support

You can also contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or speak with a counsellor online. Beyond Blue support

Follow Matt on Instagram: @MattShares.

What would your life look like if you had brushed your teeth for just ten seconds longer?

In January 2020, 27-year-old paramedic Emma Mickle made a last-minute decision to join her friends on a hike through New Zealand.

On the final day, just ten kilometres from the finish, Emma sat down to remove her wet-weather gear. At that exact moment, a three-metre tree branch fell from approximately 20 metres above and landed directly on her.

In this remarkably honest episode of ListenABLE, Emma speaks about learning to live with incomplete paraplegia, chronic nerve pain, impaired bowel and bladder function, invisible disability and the loss of her career as an operational paramedic.

Emma’s story is about terrible luck, extraordinary recovery and what she describes as “forced resilience”.

Emma discusses:

• The split-second accident that changed her life
• Waiting three hours for a helicopter rescue
• Being diagnosed with incomplete paraplegia
• Her partner proposing in intensive care
• The moment she discovered she could no longer stand
• Bowel and bladder function after a spinal cord injury
• Living with daily chronic nerve pain
• Completing an Ironman after leaving hospital
• Losing her career as an operational paramedic
• Finding freedom and relief through cycling
• Living with an invisible disability
• Why strangers react differently when shaking her hand
• The reality of hiding pain from loved ones
• How disability changed her perception of safety and risk
• Her ambition to compete at the LA 2028 Paralympic Games

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00:00 A one-in-20-million accident
01:27 The New Zealand hiking trip
03:12 Emma’s spinal cord and nerve injuries
04:39 Being told to prepare for life in a wheelchair
05:42 A hospital proposal Emma cannot remember
08:16 Feeling both incredibly unlucky and incredibly lucky
09:22 Why Emma cannot remember the accident
10:44 How her friends kept her alive
14:06 Arriving at spinal rehabilitation
15:13 The moment Emma discovered she could not stand
17:22 Would Emma undo the accident?
18:33 Bowel, bladder and chronic pain
21:20 Recovery as a professional athlete
22:09 Completing an Ironman after her injury
24:17 Why cycling makes Emma feel normal
25:42 Road racing and time trials
26:11 The dream of LA 2028
26:46 Losing her career as a paramedic
29:45 Living with an invisible disability
31:47 How to handle an unexpected handshake
33:11 The reality of “forced resilience”
34:27 How the accident changed Emma’s perspective
35:19 Living with daily pain
36:35 The Bowl of Uncomfortable
38:24 Vulnerability and a changed perception of risk
40:49 The perfect handshake

Emma Mickle, Emma Mickle cyclist, Australian para-cyclist, para-cycling Australia, spinal cord injury recovery, incomplete paraplegia, incomplete spinal cord injury, brachial plexus injury, chronic nerve pain, invisible disability, disability awareness, adaptive sport, rehabilitation through sport, Ironman after spinal cord injury, Australian Paralympic cycling, LA 2028 Paralympics, disability podcast Australia, ListenABLE podcast, Dylan Alcott, Angus O’Loughlin.

This episode includes discussions of traumatic injury, spinal cord injury, bowel and bladder function, chronic pain, sexual health and personal safety.

#ListenABLE #EmmaMickle #ParaCycling #SpinalCordInjury #InvisibleDisability #AdaptiveSport #Paralympics #LA2028 #DisabilityPodcast #ChronicPain

Three buses passed Santiago “Santi” Velasquez because he could not see when to hail them. Instead of accepting that public transport was not designed for him, the blind electrical engineer decided to build a better system.

In this episode of ListenABLE, Dylan Alcott and Angus O’Loughlin sit down with Santi to discuss the experience that inspired Halo, an accessibility-first public transport app that alerts drivers when a passenger needs assistance, where they are boarding and where they need to get off.

Santi explains how he became one of the relatively few blind electrical engineers in the world, why his parents taught him that “the only thing you cannot do is see”, and how he learned advanced mathematics, coding and engineering through Braille, audio technology and problem-solving.

The conversation also explores the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence for people with disability. Santi argues that AI can be incredibly useful, but only when people with lived experience are included in the data, design and decision-making process.

From accessible public transport and guide dog discrimination to Braille literacy, rideshare accountability and the danger of treating people with disability as charity cases, this is a powerful conversation about independence, expectations and designing a world that works better for everyone.

As Santi says:

“We’re not just charity cases. We have to have high expectations of ourselves because otherwise, who else is going to have them?”

In this episode

00:00 “I’ll be damned if I’m going to be a second-class citizen”
01:00 Welcome to ListenABLE
02:05 Meet Santiago “Santi” Velasquez
03:24 Growing up blind in Colombia
06:14 Becoming a blind electrical engineer
09:12 Learning mathematics, coding and engineering through Braille
10:28 The tactile display that lets people feel a screen
15:22 Is artificial intelligence actually accessible?
20:58 Why blind children still need to learn Braille
24:07 High expectations instead of charity
25:58 The three buses that inspired Halo
28:44 Why disability-led inventions benefit everyone
30:20 How passengers with disability become invisible to transport systems
31:55 Santi’s global ambition for Halo
34:39 How the Halo public transport app works
36:25 Who should pay for accessible transport technology?
38:14 Creating accountability across transport and rideshare services
42:36 Why sharing lived experience matters
44:04 The Bowl of Uncomfortable
46:10 What people need to know about guide dogs
48:07 Santi’s final message

Learn more about Santi and Hailo

Request Hailo in your city:

Download and use Halo if you are travelling on participating services in Victoria.

Follow the ListenABLE hosts

Dylan Alcott:
https://www.instagram.com/dylanalcott/

Angus O’Loughlin:
https://www.instagram.com/angus_oloughlin/

ListenABLE:
https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Production

ListenABLE is recorded and produced in partnership with SESSION in PROGRESS, Melbourne’s video podcast studio and production team.

SESSION in PROGRESS:
https://sessioninprogress.com.au/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/session.in.progress/

Subscribe to ListenABLE for honest, funny and educational conversations about disability, accessibility and the experiences that connect us.

#Disability #Accessibility #PublicTransport