From Graham’s Profile of Success in December 2000 he says, “I can’t find enough words to describe how the Liberator has changed my life.  To sum it up – I am a person again.”
 
Graham Clarke is a man full of adventure and has had some incredible experiences throughout his life. He grew up in a small town just outside of Durban, South Africa with his brother and two wonderful parents.  After graduating from boarding school, he completed a year of compulsory military service. During his military service, Graham says he accompanied a health inspector from site to site and states, “This eventually led me into the field of public health. I studied it for three years . . . and then was employed by the Durban City Council.”  However, Graham resigned from his job with the city after realizing that it was far from what he had experienced in the military.  Sometime later he decided to accept a position as a weather reader on Marion Island, a remote South African weather station half way between South Africa and Antarctica.

While Graham was working on Marion Island, a very isolated island, he had time to do some “soul searching” and decided he should go back to college to study something in the disability field, i.e., biomedical engineering, social work, or occupational therapy.  “Then after three months (during a second assignment on Marion Island), I fell seriously ill and had to be rescued by a Navy ship, which brought me back to Cape Town,” Graham stated.  After numerous tests, doctors established that he had had a massive stroke, which has left him completely paralyzed and speechless.
 
“My disability was (has been) the biggest challenge I ever faced as it was such a shock to wake up one day and find yourself in another world. I overcame it ­ well, there are times when I don’t feel as though I am winning at all.  Let’s say I regularly overcome it by returning to the basics and build myself back up again through determination.  I am not going to lose this fight.”
 
Julie Patterson, former PRC employee, nominated Graham as an AAC Hero:
 
“Of all of the wonderful PRC customers that I met, Graham left the most positive impression on me.  With the severity of all the issues going on with his body he remains an extremely beautiful person.  I only met him once in person but I don’t think that I will ever forget him.  Because of his stroke his body demanded one of the most sophisticated set-ups that PRC provided at that time.  

 I’m having a difficult time finding words to describe why he stands out.  He was never demanding yet I wanted to provide every possible feature for him.  He never complained yet I wanted to find every way to relieve any fatigue that the system may have caused.  To my knowledge he hasn’t jumped in front of speeding bullets or out of control vehicles but he was quite an inspiration to me.”

Graham has just completed a year’s studying at Cape Peninsula University of Technology doing a course in New Venture Creation. Graham stated, “Amasondo Esibindi, Wheels of Courage, is a project that is the brainchild of three key organisations, Services SETA, The Quadriplegic Association of South Africa (QASA) and the Centre for Skills Development & Technology Transfer (CSDTT.)”
 
He continues, “Together these three organisations have developed and are implementing a learnership with a difference. The focus of the Amasondo Esibindi team is to empower people with mobility impairment to create, develop and successfully manage their own businesses. Learners embarking on the NEW VENTURE CREATION learnership have the opportunity to establish and sustain their own business, thereby empowering themselves and adding a vital contribution to the economy of South Africa.”
 
Graham adds, I haven’t started a business yet but I am interested in alternative energy, hydroponics, waste recycling and water management.  My friend, who was on Marion Island with me, is running a wild animal tracking company and has asked me to help to monitor and to track those animals, which have cell phone collars on them.” 

Graham has set many goals in order to overcome his disability. Presently, he is working on his goals of completing a book on his life experiences, moving out of the institution where he is currently living and into a place of his own, and owning a modified vehicle that will transport him wherever he wants to go.