Johnny Bourke BA, PhD

Dr. Johnny Bourke is the Deputy Director at the Burwood Academy of Independent Living (BAIL), Christchurch, New Zealand. Johnny's experienced a spinal injury in 2005 and has been working in spinal cord injury research for the last eight years.

His research interests include community participation following SCI, the lived experience of rehabilitation and SCI, consumer involvement in research, and disability theory and policy. Johnny's Ph.D. explored the community inclusion experience of wheelchair users as Christchurch rebuilds following the Canterbury earthquakes. Johnny's lived experience of spinal cord injury combined with his research and industry knowledge has allowed him a particularly unique understanding of how rehabilitation and disability services are developed and delivered.