Andy Has the Power
Andy Barrow was 17 when he was seriously injured playing rugby for his club, Charlton Park. After five months spent in Stanmore Hospital, he left in a wheelchair and, with the same spirit he tackles everything, embarked on a future in wheelchair rugby.
From the London Wheelchair Rugby Club he was called up to the GB Development Squad, selected for the senior GB team in 2001, captained them from 2005 to 2010 and became a Paralympian in Athens, Beijing and London, before opting to retire.
One of the Shaw Trust Power 100, which annually lists the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK, Andy remains a leader, using his status and experience to make the world a more equitable place for disabled people travelling hopefully but often battling the odds in an effort to arrive.
“The Power 100 recognition is a profile raiser and I’m very proud to have been given the recognition,” he says. “It helps now that I’m working towards better experiences for others who are disabled. I have a voice now that I can use in working towards equitable travel on public transport.”
Having had a high-profile sporting career, the GB captaincy and media duties gave Andy the competence and confidence to take on public speaking, initially inspiring young people and those in the corporate world.
“To begin with I was just an athlete playing sport but then I realised that gave me a voice others might listen to,” he says. “We are lucky that people protested 25 years ago when disability wasn’t even on my compass. Those people, who had to be activists, paved the way for us to be part of the conversation.”
Andy isn’t chaining his wheelchair to any London buses like those ‘90s pioneers, but his efforts are no less impressive.
“Currently, I’m working with train operators looking at the process around assisted travel and helping staff to give disabled travellers the best experience possible,” he explains.
Having travelled to play wheelchair rugby and to be a keynote speaker, Andy’s journeys have taken him to places like Japan, Thailand and Korea and his experiences have informed his work. He has waited an age to have his wheelchair arrive from a plane, had it broken, seen colleagues’ brand new sports chairs smashed by mishandling. He has arrived at train stations where assistance wasn’t provided on his arrival.
“It affects your day, gets in the way, but I don’t want disabled travellers to think it’s their fault. I don’t want them to be put off travelling. Look, seriously injured rugby players, Injured Players Foundation clients, have been through far worse experiences, which puts it in perspective. However, it’s not right that it should happen and I am a big one for the way people sort out mistakes – that matters.”
That’s why he’s working to help train staff sort out those errors. Andy is also an ambassador for Laureus Sport for Good, founded under the Patronage of Nelson Mandela, and using sport as a powerful tool to help children and young people overcome violence, discrimination and disadvantage in their lives.
Sport has certainly served Andy in life. He lives near Greenwich in South East London, with his wife Alison, a big rugby fan who accompanies him on many of his travels. They fly around the world and visit many stadia and venues. So how does Twickenham Stadium fare in his measure of accessibility?
“Twickenham has always been fabulous,” he says. “ I remember being there in ‘97 for the first time after my injury and, as an 18-year-old, seeing the low level bars and thinking ‘that’s a bit of alright’. Three hundred accessible spaces around the stadium, a hotel with access which makes me wish I lived further away and could justify staying there, the specially adapted IPF hospitality box with its wheelchair platform, I’ve been there for concerts and events and Twickenham is a world leader.
“They’ve even extended it to the transport system. The station now has lifts, which means I no longer give railway staff palpitations as four newly-met rugby friends carry me up and over and set me down to head to Whitton Road and the stadium. That’s the rugby family for you. I used to enjoy it but it’s far safer now.”
To see Andy’s impressive list of achievements, visit: https: www.andybarrow.co.uk.
