Working normality back into my life

Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Shaun O'Sullivan, Boeing Defence Australia

Would you expect an aircraft maintenance engineer to be able to return to work after a spinal cord injury-let alone return within six months?

Shaun O’Sullivan, from Ipswich, did just that.

Shaun sustained a spinal cord injury on Good Friday last year when he fell from a tree at his home. As a result of his injury, Shaun now has paraplegia and uses a wheelchair.

Shaun said people were surprised when he started asking about returning to work at Boeing Defence Australia so soon after his injury. “But for me that was the natural progression,” he said.

Shaun contacted the Spinal Injuries Association’s Employment Options service to have his workshop at the Amberley air force base assessed and to find out how he could return to work as soon as possible.

Employment Options applied for funding for a new wheelchair for Shaun, using the Workplace Modifications Scheme. This specialised wheelchair enables Shaun to “stand up” and access work benches to perform critical components of his job, such as checking wheels for cracks.

“It was the best thing,” he said. “I might not have been able to return to my job without the help of the Association and my unique stand-up wheelchair. I started working two days a week for four hours a day.

“I now work three full days a week and as my rehabilitation progresses, I’ll be able to increase the hours that I work.

“Being back at work means the world to me. It’s the final stage of my injury that puts normality back into my life.”