This International Women’s Day, we celebrate the stories of women who challenge societal norms and redefine what is possible for women socially, politically, economically and culturally. 

Ability WA customer Karen Anderson shares her story that encompasses two countries, a career in banking, motherhood and family life - and Paralympic glory. 

Born in the UK to a British mother and an Australian father who longed to return home, at five years old Karen moved to Australia. While other family members arrived as ‘ten-pound poms’, Karen’s disability meant her new life in Australia was dependent on her family paying the full fare ticket price.  

Karen had been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at two years old, when her mother recognised she was not meeting developmental milestones expected of a toddler; Karen could not sit up properly, her legs were stiff and rigid, and she walked on tiptoes. The diagnosing doctor was not optimistic of Karen’s future and had said as much to her mother. Karen’s mother had made it clear she did not share the same opinion and promptly left the doctor’s office with Karen. With her mother’s support, Karen took her first steps at four, having previously been a determined commando crawler who required leather patches sewn onto her clothing to withstand the extra wear and tear.  

Later, in Australia, her father would build her a small pedal car as she was unable to push prams and other toys. The local neighbourhood children would gather in the laneway behind their family home, running Karen in her pedal care up and down the laneway in exchange for a turn to use the car.   

Upon arriving in Western Australia, Karen joined the Sir James Mitchell Spastic Center in Mount Lawley, which would later become Ability WA, where she received education, therapy services and other health supports.  

At 16 and at the end of her schooling, Karen left the James Mitchell Spastic Centre. During this time, it was common for people living with disability to enter the workplace in predominantly manual labour or manufacturing line roles.    

Karen had her own plans.  

Karen already knew that she didn’t want to follow that pathway and instead, she attended business college. She found her niche in telephony, answering phones at the front desk. "Nobody knew who I was; they couldn’t see me," she recalls.  

Karen secured her first role after an 18-month long job search, with the interviewer hiring her on the spot – even noting that they valued the fact she wouldn’t be wandering around the office.  

She thrived in the role, winning multiple awards for her telephony work over the next nine years – until a new manager informed Karen that ‘people like her’ could not work on the front line of the retail business.  

One interview later, Karen was newly employed at Westpac Bank.  

As a teenager, Karen was encouraged to participate in training sessions run by athletic coaches. It was there she threw her first javelin and discovered her passion for the sport. In 1988, she represented Australia at the Seoul Paralympics winning a silver medal for javelin; it was the first time people with Cerebral Palsy were permitted to compete as Paralympians.  

Having returned to Perth as a medal winning Paralympian, Karen got engaged to her boyfriend Ted, who she met the previous year, and they were married shortly after. A year after the wedding, Karen and Ted welcomed their son into the world and started their journey as parents.   

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me. My wedding was wonderful and my son was the icing on the cake.” 

Today, her son is in his mid-thirties; Karen and Ted are in their late sixties. Karen hung up her javelin long ago and today is a keen water skier. She attends weekly physiotherapy sessions at Ability WA, some sixty plus years since her first visit and where she began her journey to realise her abilities.