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Sean Tweedy didn’t end up playing for the Wallabies – but he loved the thought that he might.
It may seem a frivolous statement, but it sums up why Tweedy has dedicated so much of his life to Para sport.
“Elite sport as a pathway is a great thing to have, and people with disabilities really should have it,” the University of Queensland Professor said.
“It allows them to have that dream that I found (when I played rugby) was a wonderful thing to engage with.”
Determination to improve disability sport pathways fuelled Tweedy’s early work in classification, setting him on course to play aleading and enduring role in research into adapted physical activity.
Tweedy’s extensive work was recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours on Monday with his admission as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). He was one of six Honours recipients who have contributed significantly to the Paralympic Movement in Australia and beyond.
Tweedy has a remarkable list of achievements in and around Para sport, through the University, the International Paralympic Committee and through an especially close association with Para athletics. He currently leads the Para Sport and Adapted Physical Activity Research Group at UQ’s School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, conducting research that, according to his profile on the University’s website, “aims to generate the knowledge required to empower people with disabilities to pursue self-directed goals through safe, effective engagement in sport and physical activity”.
Tweedy’s interest in adaptive sport can be traced all the way back to his childhood and a classic Australian autobiography.
“I didn’t grow up with a brother or a sister, mum or dad who had a disability,” he said.
“But I remember reading a book called I Can Jump Puddles when I was about 10 years old. It was an Australian story about a boy with a disability who really fought and pushed himself to be as physically good as he could be.
“I remember the feeling – the great feeling – that evoked in me.”
Tweedy said his university degree wasn’t based in his later work, but his first job after completing his studies was at the Sporting Wheelies Gym, which, he said, was the first community-based fitness centre for people with disabilities in Australia.
“Working there gave me much of that same sort of feeling, and I’ve never really lost it,” he said.
Tweedy’s enthusiasm for adaptive sport was sealed at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.
“I remember being in the Athlete Village because I was classifying there and we were housed with the athletes,” he said.
“It was one of the most life-affirming experiences I’ve ever had. Just being among that many people who have all got significantdisabilities, all just getting on and doing something and doing it really well, it was eye-opening.”
Overall, Tweedy said, the driver of his commitment was the “privilege of engaging authentically in the lives of people with disabilities, sharing that with them and doing the problem-solving with them to come up with something that lets them work hard and be as good as they can be”.
“I’m not a particularly altruistic person,” he said. “But I know I get a hell of a lot out of doing what I do, and that’s really the main driver.”
Of the King’s Birthday Honour, Tweedy said: “I don’t know that I’ve properly digested it yet. When I started out, it was really an under-recognised area, a very small deal.
“But now it just so happens that Australian society values and regards this work as important. That’s a strong sign and, with the run-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, I feel a little bit of the weight of responsibility that comes with it.
“I’ve had such a great and quite overwhelming response from friends and colleagues in the area. It does make me think we’vereally got to knock this out of the park for 2032.”
Australians with links to the Paralympic Movement recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours:
Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division
Professor Simon Darcy – For significant service to tertiary education and to inclusion and accessible environments.
Miss Kim Michelle Owens – For significant service to athletics as an official and administrator.
Professor Sean Michael Tweedy – For significant service to Para sport, to adapted physical activity research, and to tertiary education.
Ms Elizabeth Adele Woods – For significant service to the law, to people with disability, and to basketball administration.
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division
Mr Paul William Griffiths – For service to sport, to people with disability, and to the community.
Mr Michael Kennedy – For significant service to snow sport development and advancement in Australia, and to international sport governance.
By David Sygall, Paralympics Australia.
Published 9 June, 2026.
