Paul Harpur

Paul David Harpur (born 28 July 1979) is an Australian twice-Paralympian as an athlete with a vision impairment, a lawyer, and university professor.
He is known for his expertise in anti-discrimination laws, human rights, labour laws and work health and safety laws.

Sports discipline

With totally or almost totally blind vision, as an athlete, Harpur is given as B1 Paralympic classification. He has completed in a number of world sporting events, including:

* goalball at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, in October 2000, in Sydney, Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, with the Australian team;
* athletics at the Australia at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, 2002 Commonwealth Games, in July 2002, in Manchester, England – 100 metres, 100 m Elite Athletes with a Disability (EAD), coming third in the semi-finals at 12.57 s;
* athletics at the Australia at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, 2004 Summer Paralympics, in September 2004, in Athens, Greece – Sprinting in the men's track in the Athletics at the 2004 Summer Paralympics – Men's 200 metres T11–13, T11 classification, 200 metres, 200 m and placing seventh in the 400 metres, 400 m; and
* athletics at the Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games in March 2005, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – 100 metres, 100 m EAD, T12 classification, placing third in the semi-finals with 12.20 s. He set an Australian record, at 26 years of age.

Part of his philosophy is 'Impossible is only two letters from possible and you do not need sight to have vision'.

Legal career

Harpur started his law degree in 1998, graduating in 2003, whilst engaged with sports.

A qualified solicitor, Harpur's university teaching areas include anti-discrimination laws, human rights, labour laws, and work health and safety laws. He has also given TEDx presentations ('Universities as disability champions of change'), and addressed the International Labour Organization in Geneva.

Harpur's 2019 Fulbright Program, Fulbright Future Scholarship was 'Universally designed for whom? Disability, the law and practice of expanding the "normal user"'. In 2021 he was also awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, investigating how the higher education sector can better support persons with disabilities.

He is presently a professor at the UQ Law School, TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland. Professor Harpur has numerous publications including ''Discrimination, copyright and equality: Opening the e-book for the print disabled'' (2017), and ''Ableism at work, disablement and hierarchies of impairment'' (2019).

Honours

On 26 January 2024, Harpur was awarded an Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his outstanding contribution to Australian Society, especially in the field of disability inclusion, as part of the 2024 Australia Day Honours.

Harpur is an ambassador for the Australian Human Rights IncludeAbility Network, and chairs the University of Queensland Disability Inclusion Group.

In 2021, he was awarded 2022 Blind Australian of the Year.

He has also been recognised for his role in creating and serving as Chair of the groundbreaking University of Queensland Disability Inclusion Group, which has been recognised with multiple awards. This includes: The University of Queensland 2019 Excellence Award, The University of Queensland Community, diversity and inclusion Award, Champions for Change award by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education & Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia.

Harpur received a 2019 Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, from the Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) program, "for outstanding leadership in translating disability strategy into a vision of ability equality and core university business."

In 2022, he was appointed to the Universities Accord Ministerial Reference Group to represent disability.

Disability

Harpur lost his sight at the age of fourteen when hit by an electric train at Wynnum, Queensland, Wynnum, Brisbane.

See also

* Australia men's national goalball team

References

External links

*
Times Higher Education Article: Where are the leaders with a disability in Higher Education?Times Higher Education Article: Intersectional Policy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harpur, Paul
1979 births
Living people
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Goalball players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
Australian blind people
Paralympic goalball players for Australia
Paralympic athletes for Australia
Paralympic sprinters
Visually impaired sprinters
Australian male sprinters
Athletes from Brisbane
Blind scholars and academics
Blind lawyers
Australian lawyers with disabilities
21st-century Australian lawyers
Sportsmen from Queensland
Australian solicitors