Service Learning Community Internship Impact Project Empowering People of all Abilities Launch Event

The social model of disability recognises that disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which they live (WHO,2001). For a person with a disability to participate and contribute in our society all community members have a responsibility to be aware and informed about; the facts and community perceptions of disability, discrimination and anti-discrimination law, the rights of persons with a disability and how people with varying abilities are portrayed in the media.

The Service Learning Community Internship aim is to bring together students and industry experts to engage in a discussion to develop awareness of this complex issue and generate innovative and effective solutions to address empowering people of all abilities. Our focus will be on building awareness and understanding of key complex social problems. Within this focus we will strive to determine whether and where progressive change is occurring; understanding what is working and why, and how we might have a meaningful impact on this issue together.

Service Learning Impact Project Empowering People of all Abilities

Service Learning Impact Project Empowering People of all Abilities Project Website

Keynote Speaker

Dr Dinesh Palipana

Dr Dinesh Palipana

Dinesh was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland, and the second person to graduate medical school with quadriplegia in Australia.

Dinesh earned a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), prior to completing his Doctor of Medicine (MD) at the Griffith University. He has completed an Advanced Clerkship in Radiology at the Harvard University. Halfway through medical school, he was involved in a catastrophic motor vehicle accident that caused a cervical spinal cord injury.

As a result of his injury and experiences, Dinesh has been an advocate for inclusivity in medicine and the workplace generally. He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia.

Dinesh is currently a resident medical officer at the Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a lecturer at the Griffith University and adjunct research fellow at the Menzies Health Institute of Queensland. He has research interests in spinal cord injury, particularly with novel rehabilitation techniques.

Dinesh is the Gold Coast University Hospital’s representative in the Australian Medical Association Queensland’s Council of Doctors in Training. He is a member of the scientific advisory committee of the Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation, disability advisory council at Griffith University, and the Ambassador Council at the Hopkins Centre. He is an ambassador for Physical Disability Australia. He is a doctor for the Gold Coast Titans physical disability rugby team.

Dinesh was the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service’s Junior Doctor of the Year in 2018. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019. He was the third Australian to be awarded a Henry Viscardi Achievement Award.

Launch Event Details

Date: Thursday 23 July 2020

Time: 10.00 am to 12.30 pm

Location: Webinar

RSVP: Thursday 16 July 2020

Service Learning Impact Project Empowering people of all abilities Launch Event