General News
30 November, 2024
Get ahead with Lego
A CAIRNS North man with quadriplegia is breaking down isolation for people with disabilities by creating an inclusive hub at The Pier shopping centre – where friendships flourish, Legos are built and big dreams can come to life.
Adventurer Jonas Luetke became a quadriplegic 10 years ago after a spinal cord injury in a skydiving accident.
After having to relearn how to live life with his injury, Mr Luetke has decided to set up an inclusive hub in Cairns and in Disability Action Week (November 24 – December 1) he’s calling on the Cairns community to support this project.
“The hub is called ‘Bricks in the Breeze’ because it combines two of my favourite activities – Lego play and kite flying,” he said. “It started approximately six weeks ago. I have my own kite school, but I wanted to combine those two things. It started at Spinal Life until we rented the shop here at The Pier.
“This costs me money but money isn’t what motivates me, I want to create value for the community and the money we make will get reinvested into the hub.”
Currently, Mr Luetke runs Lego play sessions on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with a main session on Sunday from 9am onwards for $20 where people can step in and build Legos and have a conversation about disability. “Legos can be an important tool in rehabilitation, it’s fun, it gets you moving, it gets you out of the house and spending time with others,” he said.
“When you have a disability even getting out of the house takes great effort, it would be easier to give up and stay home, so I think having a hub where people can meet, and find purpose, where we can build something greater for everyone – not only people with disabilities – can break down barriers and then we can come up with ideas and concepts to execute.
“I want for people to be able to come here and play and talk to each other and bring their concerns or plans to us. If you’d like to go to Port Douglas and fly kites in your wheelchair, we can get you doing that.”
Mr Luetke encouraged both able-bodied and people with a disability to join the hub and start conversations around disability.
“Since my injury I have learned how to fly kites because I needed that connection to the skies, I also decided to get back on the sky with what I call paramotoring – a wheelchair with a big propeller and a paraglider on top – I swam from Magnetic Island to Townsville and have continued to travel the world,” he said.
“I want people with disabilities to stop focusing on the things they can’t do because for all the 10,000 things they can’t do there are another 10,000 they can do and I hope the future of the hub can take us there.”
For more about Bricks in the Breeze, visit https://bit.ly/3ZnNTln
