Our Ambassadors

Joel Sardi

Joel Sardi lives in Melbourne with his wife and two daughters. He had spent 5 years in the Australian Defence Force, deploying to Afghanistan in 2013 & returned to Australia and suffered an injury, resulting in his spinal cord injury. Having spent nearly 10 years as a quadriplegic, he has become an advocate for people in the spinal cord injury community and disability community extended through his public speaking, online presence, mentoring of others, working in the disability space and also becoming an ambassador for Forward Ability Support & BrightSky Australia. Among the many other things he does in his life, he has a passion for supporting & empowering people as he once was when newly injured.

Creating an Instagram page was the easiest way to keep his family & friends up to date with Joel’s journey. It quickly grew to be a source of information for others who had been newly injured, family members of injured people would ask advice and partners of those who were injured would ask Elisa (Joel’s wife) for her suggestions on dealing with similar scenarios. Joel has now partnered with Forward Ability Support & BrightSky Australia because of the aligning values & ongoing commitment to the community. Joel is also committed to promoting, further educating his community and bringing awareness to how Forward Ability Support and BrightSky Australia are supporting people living with a spinal cord injury.

“When I was first injured, I spent years trying to adapt to life in a chair and learning how to live again. It was extremely difficult and very eye-opening. Losing my independence was life-shattering as I had taken it for granted my entire life. Since the accident, I have struggled with incontinence, my body lost its ability to regulate temperature, and I even lost the ability to cough! These challenges are a part of my every day now. They are my ‘normal.’ I’m really looking forward to working alongside Forward as an ambassador so that I can educate many more people about spinal cord injury and what’s possible on the other side. Just recently, my wife and I had a daughter. Despite my daily challenges, there’s so much to live for and look forward to.”

Joel Sardi

Sam Tait

“I want to show everyone that living with a disability doesn’t disable you. For me, my life is so full, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Sam Tait

From a family of skiers with a love of the snow, there were few surprises that Sam was most keen on hitting the slopes after his injury. Before long, Sam’s goal was to compete in the 2018 Winter Paralympics and he spent the following years training day and night to get there, which he did!

Sam’s incredible drive has him set on a new goal: to be on the podium at the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing.