Is this a true story?

Yes. Ian Harvey is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.

What organisation produced this?

Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.

What did Ian Harvey learn from this experience?

Jason showed Ian that no matter how hard things get, there is a silver lining to find, and that truth has become something Ian references when he or his staff think something is impossible.

What would Ian Harvey want listeners to know?

Doug and Jason both taught Ian to be honest about how he actually feels instead of saying everything is fine, because it's okay not to be fine as long as you talk about it and don't let it hold you back.

What helped Ian Harvey most along the way?

The value of friendship deepened for Ian when he realised that being there for Jason and Doug gave him as much as it gave them, because they give so much back and expect very little in return.

What would Ian Harvey tell someone going through something similar?

Ian learned that disability is just part of who someone is, not something to pigeonhole them with, and that when you treat people for who they are rather than what you assume they can't do, the boundaries are endless.

What topics does this episode cover?

This conversation includes introduction and the work ian does now, the fitness industry and the search for something different, a friend's introduction changes everything, jason dives into a sandbank on boxing day, what life looked like before the accident and another friend, another spinal injury in canada.

Ian Harvey

When Friendship Changes Everything | Golden Threads

Ian Harvey learned that the people he thought he was helping were teaching him what hard really means.

Living with a disability or chronic illness Relationships, and staying connected Being left out, and fighting for a fair go+3

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Overview

Ian Harvey spent 20 years running gyms before a single phone call changed everything. On Boxing Day, a young man he coached, Jason, broke his neck diving into a sandbank at the beach. Jason was 17, weeks away from his 18th birthday, and everything Ian thought he knew about difficulty shifted in that moment. Years later, another close friend, Doug, became quadriplegic after a car accident in Canada. Both men were spinal injuries. Both became Ian's teachers.

What Jason and Doug showed him had nothing to do with pity or inspiration-as-spectacle. Jason told a mental health nurse in the hospital that he was fine because his friends were there, and nothing would change that. Doug refused false comfort and told Ian to be honest about how he actually felt instead of pretending everything was okay. They taught him that friendship means showing up without knowing what to say, that treating people as you want to be treated removes the fear that stops most of us from engaging, and that people with disability often give far more than they ask for in return.

Those lessons stuck. After COVID made gym work feel hollow, a former employee introduced Ian to WhatAbility, a company built on the idea that fun matters in disability support. He went from managing gyms to managing experiences. Now, as National Foundation Manager for the WhatAbility Foundation, he gives away tickets to movies, zoos, sporting events, Formula One races, and jet ski days to families who couldn't otherwise afford them. His goal is to build marquee events so big and so good that people without disability feel like they're missing out if they don't include someone. Everything Ian does now comes from what Jason and Doug taught him about what hard really means.

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