Paralympian Dylan Alcott named Australian of the Year for 2022

Paralympian, tennis champion and disability advocate Dylan Alcott has been named the 2022 Australian of the Year.

Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, made the announcement at an event in Canberra this evening after Alcott qualified for the Australian Open final where he will be aiming to win his eighth title.

The 31-year-old Victorian has won 15 grand slam quad singles titles and another eight in doubles. In 2021 he became the first man in history to achieve a golden slam: all four major singles titles as well as gold at the Paralympics.

Award administrators advised that Alcott, a wheelchair user, is the first person with a visible disability has been named Australian of the Year in the annual program’s 62-year history.

Alcott, who was born with a tumour wrapped around his spinal cord, which was successfully removed when he was three weeks old but left him a paraplegic, has been open about his experiences of bullying and discrimination regarding his disability, particularly in his youth..

In 2017, he founded disability and accessibility training start-up, Get Skilled Access. He is also the founder of the Dylan Alcott Foundation, which provides scholarships and grant funding to Australians with a disability.

Alongside his sporting achievements, Alcott has written his autobiography, Able; hosted a show on youth broadcaster Triple J; and appeared in numerous commentator and presenter roles across television, radio and podcasting.

In 2009, at the age of 18, Alcott was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia.

Accepting his award tonight, Alcott advised "standing ovations are one of the most ironic things in the world, by the way, but I’ll take them, without a doubt.

In a moving speech, Alcott described how he had known nothing but life with a disability, which racked him with self-loathing until he began to see people like himself in the broader community and learned from the those closest to him “that I was worthy and that I was allowed to be loved”.

Alcott announced last year that he plans to retire from tennis after this year’s Australian Open.

Alcott, who returned to Melbourne after the ceremony will contest his last ever pro tennis match - the Australian Open quad wheelchair singles final - on Thursday.