About Sitting Low, Reaching High
Sitting Low Reaching High was founded by Mel Harrison
About Mel Harrison
Mel Harrison is the Founder of Sitting Low; Reaching High – capturing how Mel lives her life, starting at the bottom and always conquering a challenge to climb higher, while always using resilience to push through when barriers are in the way by making the impossible, possible.
Mel is based in Sydney but has provided motivational speaking, consultancy and education for over a decade and is blogging to break down barriers and explore all aspects of life including adaptive fitness, travel, work and recreation; showing that you never know someone’s ability until you give them the opportunity to explore it. Mel uses personal anecdotes and humour to engage her audience either through training, presentations, when she is helping someone to achieve their goals, through life coaching or within her writing.
Mel has lived with her disability since she was 14, a disability which requires her to use a manual wheelchair. Mel also is hard of hearing and uses hearing aids since the age of 25. Mel has had a lifetime of medical problems which has resulted in many surgeries and hospital stays but this has never stopped Mel living life and challenging herself to grow and encouraging others too as well.
Diversity and inclusion is a huge passion for Mel as she strives to break down barriers, remove stereotypes about people with disability and show that there is ability within everyone. Mel challenges the idea of labels, as she has never fit a typical label or defined herself as being disabled. Instead the wheelchair and hearing aids are an added feature in her life which enables her to move and hear freely.
Mel has a passion in helping others by using her own her personal experiences within her blogging and her talks hoping to help as many people with and without disability as possible in challenging themselves when faced with the unknown or what seems impossible. Mel is committed in helping people view diversity and inclusion in a positive light, while empowering people with disability to feel included whether it is through relationships, recreation, social, sport, travel, education or work.