Noel Hiffernan OAM: 'It's been a great journey... it's rewarding, and it's humbling'

Mr Hiffernan has received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his service to people with a disability and to the community.

Mr Hiffernan said he was surprised to be recognised for what he enjoyed doing.

"To personally think that there's people out there who regard what I did as being worthy of recognition is really humbling," he said.

"I was doing it just because I thought that it needed to be done. It's been a great journey... it's rewarding, and it's humbling to receive this honour."

Mr Hiffernan has been in a wheelchair since 1971 after a motor vehicle accident left him as a mid-thoracic paraplegic.

"I had my 18th birthday in hospital," he said. "I rolled out of the Royal North Shore Hospital on December 8, 1971, to a world that was completely different.

"Back in those days there were no ramps, there were no accessible toilets and no accessible accommodation," he said. "It needed to be changed."

Mr Hiffernan grew up in Dunbogan, before moving away and returned to the Camden Haven six years ago.

He is a director at Laurieton United Services Club (LUSC) and has been the president of Rotary Club of Laurieton.

"Since I have been part of LUSC, we have had new accessible toilets and a new wheelchair accessible bus," he said.

"Those things are not just for people like me, everybody benefits from good access designs, and that's what I have been passionate about all my life.

"If I can get in and use the facility then I know that everybody can."

For more than forty years, Mr Hiffernan has been actively committed to raising public awareness of issues affecting people with a disability.

Notably, he chaired the Greystanes Disability Services from 2002-2014 and helped establish the Greystanes Foundation.

He has been a member of a number of community-managed organisations in the Blue Mountains and Western Sydney, and he is a well-known advocate, working with organisations and individuals to affect social change for people with a disability.

He was a member of the NSW Steering Committee for International Year for People with a Disability in 1981.

He also served on the Australian Council for Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities (ACROD), taking on various roles within the access subcommittees

"My time with the Access to the Skies [subcommittee] ended up being an international thing where the ACROD committee and Qantas developed the first skychairs and the design for an accessible toilet on [Boeing 747 planes]," he said.

The introduction of the skychairs - a wheelchair that fits within narrow aircraft aisles - marked the first major breakthrough in the provision of facilities for people with a disability.

"It was later adopted internationally in a conference in London," he said.

Other contributions has included being a member of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal/Administrative Decisions Tribunal, and a founding board member of People With Disability Australia.

He has previously received a Western Sydney Area Health Services medal, a centenary medal, and an Australia Day community award.

Mr Hiffernan said he was proud to be part of the positive change for people with a disability.

"When I look around and see that we have got ramps and big blue parking spots and accessible accommodation, I feel proud of how far we have come," he said.

"You sit back and think that it hasn't been a waste because people have benefited from it."

Mr Hiffernan said a highlight for him has been witnessing the change in public perception of people with a disability.

"One of the greatest things that I have always wanted to see was people with a disability just being part of the community and in the background of everyday life," he said.

"If you notice today in an ad, you will see somebody in a wheelchair just in the background and not as a feature.

"That makes the world of difference to me because it means we're not special anymore... we're just like everyone else."