KEVIN WALL – PARALYMPIAN OPPORTUNITY DEPENDS ON HIS VISA

APPLICATION

Kevin Wall is a fighter. He is a man who has never allowed obstacles to hold him back or prevent him
from reaching his dreams. He has a very competitive spirit and he works hard to achieve his goals.

Kevin has been invited to join the Australian team as a member of the world famous Head of the
Charles Regatta for the 50th Anniversary of the event and his next dream is to represent Australia in
the 2016 Paralympics in Rio. He just missed representing Ireland at the Paralympics in London two
years ago and he is determined that he will not miss the event in Rio. However he might lose the
chance, not because of a lack of talent or ability in rowing, but because of problems with getting an
Australian visa.

He was born with cerebral palsy as a result of a birth complication and this is how he describes it: “It
was said to my parents ‘shove this guy into a wheelchair. He’ll never walk, he’ll never talk.’ I spent
over a decade doing speech therapy and physiotherapy. Not only did I make it to primary school, I
made it 15,000 miles to the other side of the world.” Kevin spent 14 years of dogged commitment to
learn how to walk and talk.

In 2004 Kevin qualified as a mechanic at Waterford Institute of Technology. He loves his job, even
though it often demands levels of co-ordination which he finds challenging but which he always
overcomes because of his fierce determination and commitment.

Discovering a passion for rowing 16 years ago he has pursued excellence in his chosen sport in spite
of the challenges and difficulties he faced.

In 2011 Kevin visited Australia on a tourist visa and decided that he wanted to work and live in
Australia. While in Australia he was invited by his home country to go to the Paralympics. He
returned to Ireland in February 2012 and was chosen to row for Ireland. He just missed joining the
Irish rowing squad in London Paralympics. Although it was a huge disappointment for him, he
immediately focused on working towards taking part in Rio next year, and he is hoping to represent
Australia in the event. In fact, because of his commitment to rowing and training, he happened to be
in the water in July 2013, when a father and his nine year old son nearly drowned in the waters of
the River Suir. Kevin was out training when he spotted the capsized boat and two people in difficulty
in the water. He rescued the father and his son in an act of bravery and courage which is typical for
this selfless young man.

In September this year he became Western Australian state champion in his category. But the one
dark cloud on the horizon is that he is running out of time to become an Australian citizen because
he has failed the English language test three times.

Kevin remarks wryly that “For the first time in my life, my disability is not holding me back. It’s
paperwork and bureaucrats.”

“How the visa system works is it’s all based on points for whatever circumstances you have. Because
I have cerebral palsy, no mechanic has sponsored me, so I’ve had to go on an independent visa, but I
was short 10 points. To get those 10 points I have to do the IELTS (International English Language
Testing System) exam”.

~1~ Lex Faure

“I have to achieve a mark seven or higher in each of the four aspects, reading, writing, speaking and
listening. I have done the exam three times and failed by half a mark each time. I failed in different
aspects each time, reading, writing and listening.”

Failing the exam cost him his job. “I’m living on my savings at the moment. Everything I have is going
into sport. All I do is I sleep, eat and row,” he said.

Richard Coates, a Dublin man who has lived in Australia since 1994, and works as a migration agent
in Adelaide is critical of the IELTS test and said it is not unusual for tradespeople to have difficulties
with it. He says that 90 per cent of Irish people who do the English test fail to get enough points at
least once.

“It’s demeaning to them personally,” Mr Coates told ABC television. “It’s degrading … because they
come from an English-speaking background. It’s also expensive, at around $330 per sitting. It can rise
to an average fee of $2,000 before a client achieves what they need to achieve.”

Coates (along with one of the designers of the IELTS English language test, David Ingram) believes it
is unsuitable for people trained in a trade, who might have difficulty with spelling and grammar.

It would be so unfair if Kevin were unable to realise his dream of rowing for Australia because of the
harshness of the Australian Visa test. However he is confident he will make it to Rio to represent
Australia. “It’s my dream. The more people that get behind me, it will happen. I’m pushing it because
every fibre in me wants to row for Australia.”

Written by:
Lex Faure
lex@carpedp.com
8th October 2015

~2~ Lex Faure