Paralympic legend Kurt Fearnley predicts a new equipment fund set up to assist para-athletes at all levels could provide benefits for decades to come.
Sport Australia has put in an initial $1 million investment into the Australian Paralympic Committee para-sport equipment fund, with other areas Including the corporate sector, invited to contribute.
"Today is a proactive step by Sport Australia and the Australian Paralympic Committee in not waiting to be dragged into something but grabbing an opportunity," Fearnley, the NSW Australian of the Year winner, said.
"We will see the benefits of this in the next decade and many decades to come."
Three-time wheelchair racing Paralympic gold medallist Fearnley said there was a lot of barriers for people with disabilities getting into sport and finance was one of the biggest.
"You don't know how devastating finances can be until it's the thing standing in the road of the life that you believe that you would love to have, or the moments in life that you give a little bit more joy in day-to-day life," Fearnley told AAP.
"With someone with a disability, you don't just go out and buy a $100 pair of shoes. That doesn't allow you to enter into the City of Surf or Sydney Marathon
"It's five grand to be able to find a wheelchair that will allow you to get through those races."
Wheelchairs apart, the fund could be used to pay for things like prosthetics and modified seating.
Anyone can apply to the APC for funding from someone starting out to an established star.
APC CEO Lynne Anderson said entry level costs for equipment were exorbitant to begin with.
"It just gets worse up the line," Anderson told AAP.
"With triathletes, if you are in the leg impairment category, you need a running leg and you need a bike leg, so if a prosthetic leg costs $20,000, there's $40,000."
On Thursday, the winner of the Sir Roden Cutler Award for the most outstanding athlete with a disability will be announced,
The finalists are Madison Derozario, a three-time gold medallist in track and field, Joany Badenhorst, a Paralympic Games co-captain and two-time gold medallist at the 2018 Para World Snowboard World Cup, Invictus Games champion Damien Thomlinson, Curtis Wain McGrath, an eight-time gold medallist in Paralympic canoeing and Christine Suffolk, a distance runner with over 100 medals to her name.,
Australian Associated Press
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Margaret River Mail
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