My name is Gerrard Gosens. I live in Brisbane.
I was born with birth glaucoma and aniridia so I’m totally blind.
I have prosthetics. I have had the opportunity to represent Australia
at three Paralympic Games, seven world championships… More recently I’ve had the chance to represent
Australia at the world championships in para sprint triathlon and have competed at a number
of world cups for Australia in para triathlons. And as a person who’s totally blind, my
determination, my persistence has always been about not, “hey, I’m doing it because
I’m blind”. It’s just about the opportunity.
I didn’t have a bucket list of climbing Everest or running from Cairns to Brisbane
or ‘Dancing with the Stars’. They were opportunities that were presented
to me and I think for me it was about saying yes and giving it a go.
As I said, I don’t claim to be the world’s best runner or the world’s best triathlete
or the world’s best chocolate maker, but it’s about giving it a go.
So chocolate requires a tempering process. It doesn’t mean it has a temperature, I
mean a temper. In actual fact it’s very happy so if you’re
unhappy, we need you to leave today because obviously the tempering process for us is
pretty important.
So what does he do?
He does everything around the house as other people would.
He washes the clothes, he cleans, he helps with the cooking.
With his work he can do anything anyone else does, as long as he figures out ways to do
it as quickly as everyone else.
He does it with the same skill and probably better.
So Gerrard has multiple roles.
His primary role, he does some work in business development and we also have a MAX foundation.
But he’s part of our project management office, so our PMO team.
Gerrard works here because he has a talent and a skill and he has an attitude that I
wish everybody had. That’s why he’s here, no other reason.
And that’s why he continues to be here. The fact that he’s visually impaired, is
just Gerrard - that’s just who he is. So I think, to me, that’s what’s important.
Being totally blind comes with it its moments of sheer frustration where there are the facts
of life where things can and do go astray. Back in the old days when I was running the
Paralympic Committee and fax machines were a primary source of communication and if you
printed off a document, took it to the fax machine and dropped it, then I had no idea
whether I was going to be faxing a blank side or a written side.
I hear people around him constantly giving him ideas, thinking it’s hilarious, but
they don’t realise that Gerrard never says no.
My name’s Troy Grice and I got Gerrard into triathlon.
I was swimming at Yeronga pool - it would have been September 2015 - and I’d seen
Gerrard there a few times. I knew some of his background with what he’d
done athletically and climbing Everest so I said to him one day, “have you ever done
triathlon?” And he said no.
And I said, “well do you want to do one and I’ll be your guide?”
And then I created a monster.
So with this triathlon business, I already
know he is going to keep going until he potentially gets to his final Paralympic Games.
He won’t stop. He’ll work full time, he’ll make chocolates
with me, he’ll do everything everyone else does, but also train like an elite athlete
and he won’t stop. His coach Mark Turner has to figure out how
do you teach a guy who’s never done very much swimming how to now swim like an elite
athlete. He just never stops.
It’s just not in his mindset to think, “I can’t do it”.
It’s not in his mindset. So he’s constantly just doing it.
It’s so hard to explain. You’ve really got to watch him.
He doesn’t even hesitate. That’s why I’m so frightened of people
suggesting he do anything - because I know he’s going to do it.
And I also know he can’t see. So my journey next to him will be to - like,
I look so old because I’m constantly in a state of tension making sure that he’s
secretly as safe as I can help him. Where as I know I can’t really make any
difference at all. He’s still going to have someone run him
along the road and potentially run him into that car or over that edge - which has happened,
he’s been run over a cliff. He forgot forgot about our blindness and thus
I found that little crevasse, unfortunately was left with a few bruises and cuts and a
dislocated shoulder. In all the years I’ve been running I’ve
never had a torn calf muscle, never had a torn hamstring, all my injuries have been
because of my guides - because they have run me into parked cars and trees and posts and
poles. So the rope’s about a 30cm loop - hold that
in my left hand, Gerrard’s always on the left, he holds it in his right.
And then, one of the main things is always making sure that you’re in step, so as my
left foot goes forward Gerrard’s right foot goes forward and that way your arms are always
swinging in unison. There are going to be those moments when things
do go astray and I think if we take on board those facts of life - that’s where people
who are at time sighted, who are fully able, will take on the smallest of things.
Whether it be the photocopier being empty of paper or being stuck in traffic, when they
realise what people who are physically disabled go through…
I see some of our swimmers who have one arm, or another lady who swims at QUT who is a
double arm amputee. Being totally blind is nothing in consideration
to the challenges she would face on a daily basis having no arms.
You have to cut this, OK?
Because one of our kids has also got a vision
impairment. And he’s constantly trying to show her to
keep persevering, that she’ll come across barriers whether it’s at work, day to day…
So, he’s just - without lecturing to her - he’s just trying to, we’ll teach both
of them that when life gets tough you’ve just got to get on with it because that’s
what we’re here for. Yeah.
For us, for me as a sighted person I say Gerrard isn’t disabled, he just can’t see and
that’s he’s far more able than 95 per cent of the people who walk through the door
at the swimming pool. The drive and the commitment that you must
have. Me as a sighted person, I can find an excuse
not to do something pretty easily. But for Gerrard, there are no excuses.
It doesn’t matter for him.
The other side of the coin is, not only is
he looking at his own invested goals, he still likes to help others.
OK, so I was born with my vision impairment. It’s called bilateral adapthelmia.
I think that’s how you say it. I’d have to ask my mum.
Ah, Sean, I think, came to know me through Dancing with the Stars.
So he has a poster of myself, back when he was a really young kid, on Dancing with the
Stars, which I’ve signed. And from there he’s now gone and he’s
competing in triathlon. He’s 13 years of age.
Yeah, I just wanted to really hear how fast he ran and him and Billy went for a little
run around this track. Geez he’s quiet.
You can’t really hear him that much, ‘cause his feet are so quiet and I’m guessing that
took lots of years of practice, but, yeah.
He has a fantastic little guide who they’re
working together and I hope we’ll see Sean come up through the ranks and as he goes on
through high school and potentially through his career to be become a really good athlete.
But, it’s rewarding to see that those kids see the opportunities through your own particular
efforts. And what have you run him into so far?
Ah, I don’t think I’ve run him into anything hard, but there have been a couple of times
where there’s been a tree and I’ve nearly run him into it.
No parked cars, or trees or posts? No, maybe once, I think.
Yeah I do remember once, but not too many fortunately.
So he’ll have people come up to him and say, “could you come and do a fundraiser
for us?” And he’ll go and do that.
He’ll counsel parents of children with disabilities. He’ll try and guide teenagers who are a
little off the rails and need reminding of how lucky they are and what they could do
with their lives. So he still has that side of him as well.
This morning we’re here at the Bronco’s football ground for two reasons.
A, to introduce Sean to my previous running coach to give Sean some technique in running
because Sean needs to improve his running style to progress as an athlete.
And secondly, is to give him a bit of a surprise, where because he had expressed to me the desire
to meet the Broncos and didn’t believe me necessarily that I actually had a relationship
with the Broncos for many years. So we’re here today to surprise Sean.
How are you going? Hello.
Good to see you mate, you going good? Yes.
How’s it going man? What’s your name? My name’s Sean.
Sean? Nice to meet you man. Would it be OK if I interview one of your
players so then I can have a memory? Bloody oath mate, sure.
Alright, ‘cause I’m blind, I can’t see so I can’t take photos and go, “oh I remember
Matt Gillett.” Oh, fair enough mate.
Hey mate, how’s it going? My name’s Darius.
Darius Boyd the captain?
Yeah.
That was cool. I just really want to have
a ball in my hand and have some Broncos to my left and right and then I want to get tackled.
Also would I be able to hear you two tackle each other, like what it sounds like?
Here we go.
It was brilliant.
Awesome.
But, would I still be able to get tackled
by one of them?
There’s many people who have no excuse - they’ll
never do half of what Gerrard’s done and I think that’s remarkable what he’s done.