Vanessa Low - Finalist for the 2019 Chief Minister's Inclusion Awards

Vanessa Low is a finalist for Emerging Young Leader award at the 2019 ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards!

Paralympian Vanessa Low is the Ambassador for Light Rail Safety in Canberra. Vanessa has helped promote the importance of rail safety to the Canberra community, including through visit schools to remind students about the importance of staying safe. As a presenter, Vanessa has the ability to connect with school students of all ages.

Her personal story is very powerful. When Vanessa was only 16 years old, she was involved in a rail accident in her hometown of Ratzeburg, Germany. Due to overcrowding on a rail platform she fell onto the tracks into the path of an oncoming train. She woke from a coma to discover that both her legs had been amputated above the knee. A slow recovery and a lot of hard work has seen Vanessa tackle small goals in order to become the person she is today. (See this RiotACT article). 

At the Rio Olympics, she won the Gold medal with a 4.93m world record distance in the T42 long jump and a Silver medal in the T42 100m competition. Vanessa is currently managing a very busy schedule, including preparing for her third Paralympic Games as a long jumper, representing Australia.