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The journey after a spinal cord injury is always uncharted territory. Some of us hole ourselves up at home waiting for a cure to happen, and then there’s Stephen Cluskey, a free spirited Irishmen who’s used his injury as a platform for the change he’d like to see in the world.
His advocacy began on a late night out that left him stranded until 6:00 am with no accessible transport. He began to think about solutions, and the rest as they say is history. Read on to learn about Stephen Cluskey, a quadriplegic determined to fix one the biggest problems facing wheelchair-users in his home country — inaccessibility.
Why He’s Fearless
In 2002, when Stephen was 18 years old, he fell off a bay of hay becoming a C3-5 quadriplegic. He was in rehab for several months afterwards, and he also traveled to the US and Portugal for stem cell treatments. After he completed his treatments, Stephen reassessed what to do with his life. At the time of his injury, he was attending Belvedere University, but decided to instead study economics at the University College Dublin from home.
After graduating in 2008, he went to Open University, where he graduated with honors with a business degree. Stephen has been busy since getting his degree and has become a full-fledged tech entrepreneur. He first founded Wheelchair Taxi in 2012. The mission was to provide easy-to-find accessible transportation for people in Ireland; a service that had yet to exist in Ireland. The business did not pan out, but he transformed it into an accessible taxi dealer.
He did not give up however on his dream of making public transportation accessible for the general public in Ireland. In 2013, he was appointed to the Taxi Advisory Committee where he helped secure 3 million pounds to put more wheelchair taxis on Irish roads. Next, Stephen helped establish another accessibility website in 2014, GoAccessible365.com, that brought all forms of accessible travel in one place.
What’s Next?
And Stephen was just getting started. In 2016, he helped co-found Mobility Mojo, a trip adviser for people with disabilities. It is now an independent global rating system for hotel accessibility and has won several awards. He is also a public speaker on accessibility, which he has done since 2017 on a professional level. He gave a TEDx speech on this topic as well. Watch
Steven also loves traveling the world, highlighting accessibility whenever he can. And he’s found love, getting engaged to his longtime girlfriend in 2021. We are thrilled for Stephen and we can’t wait to see where his future takes him next.
ideas@spinalpedia.com
