Building Communities Where Disability Inclusion Is Everyone’s Business

Dane Cross is Chief Operating Officer of Sporting Wheelies, part of Spinal Life Australia. He brings lived experience of spinal cord injury together with professional experience across disability sport, community participation, accessibility and inclusive infrastructure. With a degree in Exercise Science and qualifications as an Access Consultant, Dane spent 17 years with PCYC Queensland before moving into his current work supporting participation in sport and helping organisations build more inclusive communities.

What inspired the creation and launch of the new Cairns Hub, and what impact do you hope it will have?

For us, the Cairns Hub is about much more than taking a few Sporting Wheelies programs to another city. We want to help build a stronger local system around inclusive sport in Far North Queensland.

People with disability should be able to access good sporting opportunities close to where they live, without automatically having to travel to Brisbane or rely on one specialist provider. We’re starting with activities including Boccia, Wheelchair Fundamentals, Para Powerlifting, Adaptive Aquatics and Table Tennis, but the broader ambition is to connect those programs with schools, local sporting organisations, community services and existing inclusive sport activity across the region.

Success would mean more people with disability participating in sport and more local clubs becoming confident and capable of including people themselves. If we build local capability, the impact can extend well beyond the programs we directly deliver.

What are the main barriers people with disability face when accessing sport?

One misconception is that making sport accessible is simply about having a ramp or an accessible change room. Those things matter, but inclusion is much broader than the physical environment.

Barriers can start before someone arrives. Can they find information about the program? Is transport available? Is the equipment suitable? Does registration let them explain their support requirements? Does the coach feel confident including them? And, perhaps most importantly, do they feel they belong when they arrive?

Sometimes the biggest barrier is uncertainty. A person may not know whether a program is genuinely for them, while a club may be unsure how to support them. A hub can provide an accessible entry point where people can try activities and build confidence, while helping mainstream organisations develop their own capability. The goal shouldn’t be for disability sport organisations to deliver everything forever. It should be a sporting system where inclusion becomes everybody’s business.

What advice do you have for organisations looking to create more inclusive opportunities?

Start with people with disability, but don’t stop at consultation. Lived experience needs to inform what you do, because there is no single disability experience and no one solution that works for everybody. Listen to people, understand the barriers they encounter and be prepared to change something as a result.

Organisations can get stuck worrying about getting inclusion perfect. You don’t need to solve everything on day one. You can improve website information, train coaches and volunteers, review your venue, make registration more flexible or make it clearer that people can discuss what they need.

Accountability matters too. Inclusion can’t just sit in a policy or depend on one enthusiastic person. Someone needs to own the actions, progress needs to be reviewed and leadership needs to pay attention to whether anything has changed. Collaboration between sporting and disability organisations, schools, councils and communities will achieve far more than expecting one organisation to have all the answers.

Could you share your career journey and what led you to your current role?

Sport and physical activity were a big part of my life growing up. In 2001, when I was 21, I sustained a spinal cord injury while playing touch football. At the time, I was studying Exercise Science and working as an indoor rock-climbing instructor.

That experience changed my perspective on accessibility and participation, and over time influenced my career. I returned to university and completed my Exercise Science degree before spending 17 years with PCYC Queensland. During that period, I became increasingly involved in accessibility and inclusion work and developed qualifications and experience in Access Consulting.

That combination of professional and lived experience eventually brought me to Spinal Life Australia and Sporting Wheelies. My current work brings together disability sport participation, community programs, accessibility advice and helping organisations improve their inclusion practices. For me, they’re all connected by the same question: how do we remove unnecessary barriers so people can participate in their communities?

What do you enjoy doing in your downtime?

A lot of my downtime revolves around my family. My wife and I have always been determined that my disability shouldn’t mean our kids miss out on experiences simply because they require more planning or a different approach.

That has led to what we call our “Cross Family Adventures”: travelling, getting outdoors, trying new things and working out how to make things happen as a family. We share some experiences through Instagram and YouTube because I think there’s value in showing disability in ordinary family life, rather than only through sport, rehabilitation or overcoming adversity.

Accessibility can create challenges and require problem-solving, but that’s part of the adventure. Unwinding is about spending time together and creating memories. It also keeps me grounded; the barriers we encounter personally reinforce why our professional accessibility and inclusion work matters.