ALUMNI FOCUS
Alumni Profile – John Moxon
Following an accident that left him with quadriplegia and ended his engineering career, John Moxon (BA (Hons)1983) came to Macquarie to study psychology and launch a new career.
“I chose Macquarie mainly because it was the most wheelchair friendly campus in Sydney and was the closest to my home,” he says, adding that once he started studying the friendship and support he received from both other mature age students and staff stands out in his memory.
“When I enrolled at Macquarie I had the aim of pursing clinical psychology as a career, but discovered that it was not for me,” he says, explaining that after graduation he had great difficulty finding a job, so he began volunteering at a disability advocacy organisation.
“I was subsequently employed there for 12 months or so until I was appointed to the NSW public service as a senior policy officer with responsibility for disability policy and recruitment. That position was followed by mainstream HR policy, industrial relations, management of a department’s staff training and development section, and a strategic planning role.”
Resigning from the public service in 1998, he established his own consultancy business and ran that for the next 10 years.
John says that at the same time as he worked full-time in the public service and managed his own business, he continued to be an active disability advocate.
“At various times over a period of 30-plus years I was a founding member and president of the Macquarie Association of Disabled Students, coordinator of the Wheeling Free program on 2SER-FM, president of the Australian Quadriplegic Association (now SCIA), president of Physical Disability Council of Australia (now PDA) and of its NSW counterpart, PDCN, chair of Active Job Services (a job placement agency for people with disabilities), and a member and one-time chair of Parramatta Council’s Access Advisory Committee.
“Since retirement, I’ve continued my involvement with Parramatta City Council and helped establish, and was president of for six years, Parramatta Computer Pals for Seniors,” he says. Parramatta City Council awarded him Senior Citizen of the Year in 2010, while the Federal Government presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Disability in 2013.
John attributes his disability advocacy work to a chance conversation with a fellow student.
“He revealed to me the folly of not being involved in the disability community and the need for educated, enthusiastic people with disabilities to join the fight for justice. He and I remain best friends 35 years later.”
He says he hopes he has been a role model for other people with disabilities to study and pursue a career.
“I also hope that my efforts to influence governments to have more equitable policies and practices for people with disabilities have borne some fruit.
John is helping current and future generations of Macquarie students achieve their goals through his support of Macquarie’s Student Calling Campaign.
Great to read John’s story. I came across John about the turn of this century when, from memory, John was president of PDCN. It was a time when many disability groups were advocating for better assistance for people with disabilities to acquire essential items of equipment so we could participate in the community. I am sure John had a positive influence on many of us. I can only agree that university offers great opportunities to expand our horizons.
John introduced me to disability issues when we were Mac U psychology students together (we graduated in the same year) and it has stood me in good stead as our family has come to grips with the issues facing our daughter Fiona, who has Friedreich’s Ataxia. She is also a Mac U alum, in ancient history and media studies, completing her degree in a wheelchair, ten years ago. John is a most passionate disability advocate and it is great to read this story about him – onya John!
Excellent article. John Bruce Moxon’s life story of his determination to overcome the debilitating setback of being a quadriplegia is truly inspiring to those of us who take our mobility for granted. Just shows what a bit of grit and willpower can accomplish…
John, read the article in the Parra Advertiser and thought it must be the same person I met at the Old DLI and subsequent names. Enjoyed talking to you then and would like to catch up as I only live in Dundas. Cheers John.
John Bruce Moxon (BA (Hons)
John was put on this earth to become a passionate advocate. Decades of tireless work, in many fields including disability advocacy, John has made changes that have been put into practice for those who could not, or did not, know how to access a means to improve their way of life, be it physical, intellectual and or emotional. A rebellious ex-Fort Street Boys’ High School student; who’s racing car accident in 1970 seemed to change his life to the advantage of others. John is a compassionate man, with a jovial outlook, who appears much younger than 80 years of age; his smile is infectious.
During his career, and to this day, John has been well supported by his loving wife Margaret Tucker-Moxon.
I met John in 2007, when he was President of Parramatta Computer Pals for Seniors Inc.; a not-for-profit organisation which Margaret and John helped establish. Getting to know John has been illuminating. To me, and I am sure many others, recognition of John’s meritorious service should be acknowledged in the way of bestowing upon him an Order of the British Empire, O.B.E.