So you were out on the open road, you felt the handlebars start to wobble.
And then you slowed down to pull into a servo, to try and prevent an accident.
Really you wouldn't believe...
what actually happened.
I went to take the first turn, it was S-shaped driveway.
So you were going what, like 5km?
8km.
And the handlebars turned and the front wheel kept going straight.
So the wheel came off the bike?
The handlebars came off the bike.
And I basically clipped a lamppost with my foot and it twisted my leg and took it off.
God.
I tore my spleen. I broke ribs.
I was bleeding out. I severed my femoral artery. It's a miracle that I'm actually here talking to you.
And the story just gets worse from there.
Lazarus Lordi is one of up to a hundred thousand Australians living without a limb.
He's been out of a job for the most part of nine years.
Since he lost his leg.
Almost 50 percent of people with a disability are currently unemployed.
And said to be more likely to be discriminated against when looking for work.
To me I'm not really disabled, I have half a leg missing.
Y'know? And that's it.
But I think people,
assume that you can't do anything because they hear disabled, you can't work, you can't...
think properly.
All those things that go along with...
the word.
But that's about to change
thanks to a brave new experiment, that he hopes will transform the lives of other amputees.
Alongside some of our most marginalised job seekers.
Lazarus will take part in the first ever 'Business Bootcamp', to form the companies next big start up.
All under the guidance of this self-made millionaire and with TV cameras following his every move.
It was bad enough I lost my leg, but to lose everything else.
To not be able to get a job
When all of that actually hit me, it was really devastating.
Overnight, it just went and I almost just cried for the next six months.
I went to bed in tears, I woke up in tears and I spent the day in tears.
How bad did it get?
Bad enough that I wanted to die
I didn't wanna live.
Definitely made an attempt.
Thankfully it wasn't successful.
I just...
felt like I had no hope.
What do you wish was said to you,
at the time that you were really struggling with the reality that you had to live without a limb?
It's not the end of the world.
It's the end of a limb.
When I left hospital, I left without hope.
And I don't want other people to go through that.
And we have to stop looking at people with disabilities, as disabled people.
It's a part of their life and who they are but it's not who they are.
As you've overcome so much and you're incredibly resilient, what's been the most difficult battle for you?
Maybe just coming to terms with it all.
And transitioning, at the the same time.
And so you're talking about transitioning gender?
Yep.
Does this mean you're outing yourself as transgender right now?
Yeah, I guess.
Yeah I'm outing myself.
A lot of people in my life don't know.
So I had to put being able to be my true self on hold...
to deal with the fact that I've lost a leg.
And if it wasn't for the ['The Employables' on SBS], I don't that I'd be this far ahead,
where I'm at right now because that really helped a lot.
Having the mentors. The show's over and they are still helping me.
And they have no obligation to do it.
So I've pretty much got the dream team behind me, if I fail it's my own doing.
Because there's really no way I should fail.
What do you hope that this kind of enterprise that you're setting up, is gonna do?
I'm hoping that what Street Mobility is going to do for people is...
raise awareness
about what it's like for people with disabilities and in particular people who use wheelchairs.
Give people hope
before they leave hospital.
Be able to provide jobs for people with a disability, so that they can be paid a wage that's fair.
You're disabled or able bodied.
It shouldn't matter.
Laz, how has this experience changed you?
I've realised who I am.
How strong I actually am and determined.
And don't tell me no.
Because if you tell me no I am going to prove you wrong.
I will figure out a way.
I will make the impossible possible...
somehow.
Even when I'm miserable, I'm like I'm in so much today, but I'm still smiling!
I'm not gonna let it take away from me. I'm not gonna let anything take away from my life.
It's my life I can do with it what I want and that's what I'm gonna do.
And a beautiful smile it is. I am so happy you've entered my world, Laz.
It was really, really lovely to chat to you. Absolute pleasure, thank you.
Thanks for having me.