There are many inspiring things about Dr Dinesh Palipana. Not only is this Sri Lankan-born man a doctor, lawyer, scientist and disability advocate, he was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland, and the second person with quadriplegia to graduate as a doctor in Australia. He was Queensland’s Australian of the Year in 2021 and he received an Order of Australia medal in 2019.
But one of the most amazing facts about this busy doctor and researcher is that he wrote this memoir in three weeks.
It is not just an account of his early life in Sri Lanka; the move to Australia with his family when a child; his law degree; then the start of medical studies before the car accident which left him a quadriplegic.
He doesn’t flinch from detailing his mental state after that accident, and has dedicated this book to his mother, who has devoted herself to his care. But he also meditates on what he has learned outside the medical field that he believes makes him a better doctor. After his accident he returned to Sri Lanka, for a time working in business, which taught him a lot about communicating, a skill he often finds lacking in the scientific world.
He advocates people finding their own path and truth in life. He has had to embrace the idea of being ‘different’, needing three hours each morning to get ready for work in a Queensland hospital. But he does not see disability as inability and has taken that approach to medical school and life, trying to do everything well. His success means he is a popular public speaker, and he is working on a research project using electrical stimulation and thought control as a therapy for paralysis.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
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