If globe-trotting wheelchair racer and passionate disability advocate Kurt Fearnley wins Australian of the Year then the award won't be his alone.
The Newcastle local is NSW's nominee for the 2019 Australian of the Year, an honour which he is fully aware carries a significance for many others in the community.
"The amount of people that are writing me at the moment saying that they're on the podium with me or they've just found their little kid has cerebral palsy and they're just so grateful that they'll able to see that progression of integration and inclusion for people with disabilities," Fearnley told AAP.
"I'm surprised by how many people are a part of the thing with me and it just reminds me of the need of speaking about real stuff," he said.
Though his near-two-decade-long sporting career put him on the map, Fearnley has a long history of using that platform to advocate for people with disabilities.
Fearnley, 37, will head to Canberra for the naming of this year's Australian of the Year on Friday.
The Paralympian said he was surprised and a little overwhelmed by his nomination in November, which followed gold and silver medal wins at the Commonwealth Games and the announcement that he was retiring from his 20-year career in sport.
His fellow nominees are "pretty special, impressive, amazing people," he said.
"There will be on the 26th an Australian of the Year who will progress this country in a way that suits their passion and their life and their skill set," Fearnley said.
Regardless of the outcome, Fearnley will return to the GIO Oz Day 10K course in Sydney on January 26, where he got his start in racing at the age of 14.
Despite it being a "strange period of time" for the Paralympian, it's important to think of the bigger picture in play, Fearnley said.
"At the end of the day if you can create one moment that is better, one moment that is more heartfelt or more genuine or one moment of progress in one kid's life then you handle it because you've got to," he said.
