British artist Sue Austin has amazed experts with the way she has overcome her disability, achieving results that are previously unheard of.
Sue has been in an wheelchair for over two decades, due to an extended illness, and she uses an underwater wheelchair to produce stunning visual art.
When she first broached the idea of diving in a wheelchair, she received some backlash.
“When we started talking to people about it, engineers were saying it wouldn’t work, the wheelchair would go into a spin, it was not designed to go through water — but I was sure it would,” Austin told the BBC in 2012.
With the help of dive experts, academics and engineers, Sue’s dream came true.
Just one of Sue’s amazing underwater moves
She was chosen as one of the featured artists at the Unlimited Festival, a part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in London. The cultural program accompanied the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Her non profit organisation Freewheeling, an integrated arts program, has recently been the center of much attention, highlighting her achievements.
“People’s reaction completely changed towards me. It was as if they couldn’t see me anymore, as if an invisibility cloak had descended”, she said in a TED talk about how people acted around her when she began using a wheelchair.
“As a result, I knew I needed to make my own stories about this experience, new narratives to reclaim my identity”, she continued.
Sue’s story is inspiring and here at Her.ie we have to say we really admire her courage and perseverance.
