1. 36 WINTER 2007Perspective
‘Life is what you make it.’
People
You have to admire anyone who
excels at what they do, but you ad-
mire them even more when they are
disabled.
Nick Burling is severely affected
by cerebral palsy and some people
thought he would never succeed as
a new car salesman, but Nick has
proven them wrong. He has not only
succeeded, he has become the best
sales person in his dealership.
“All I have ever asked for is to be
treated like anyone else,” he says in
his office at Windsor Toyota, NSW.
“I got into this business because
my parents, who used to own the
dealership, gave me the opportunity
but I continue to sell cars because I
love dealing with people and I love
cars. I can’t do everything other sales-
man do, but people tell me I have
the gift of the gab and that seems to
make up for it.”
Nick’s disability was caused by
problems at birth that deprived his
brain of oxygen causing damage to
the movement centres of his brain.
But in other respects he is as mentally
equipped as anyone else.
At the age of 33 he drives his
own car, is paying off his own home,
goes out and socialises unassisted
and has even travelled solo overseas.
He believes one thing that has
enabled him to fit into a relatively
normal lifestyle is the fact that he
went to a regular school – the first
disabled person to do so at the
school he attended. “I must have
done pretty well,” he laughs, “be-
cause that school now has many
disabled students.”
He admits, though, that it wasn’t
always easy. He received more than
his share of rough treatment from
school bullies, but brushes that off as
part of life for many people.
“Some disabled people seem to
have a weird view,” he says. “They
seem to think the world owes them.
My parents taught me that life is the
same for everyone – you make life
what you want to make it, whoever
you are.”
Windsor Toyota has grown from
a relatively small family business that
was established in a converted work-
shop. After he left school and spent
some time as a motoring journalist,
By William West
Nick Burling in the scooter he uses to get around the showroom at his dealership
WINTER 200736 PERSPECTIVE
continued on page 37

2. WINTER 2007 Perspective 37
Disability is in the eye of the beholder
continued from page 36
Nick Burling at work in his office
‘Generally, I am like everyone else.
After all, we are all disabled in some
way, it’s just that 99 per cent of the
time you can’t see it.’
People
Nick’s parents offered him a position
as a stock controller, but it wasn’t
until the business was sold and ex-
panded that the new General Man-
ager, Craig Atkinson, decided it was
time Nick was promoted to sales.
“We have never regretted the
decision,” Mr Atkinson said. “It’s not
a case of making allowances for
Nick. When you work with him you
actually forget that he is disabled,
so when someone mentions it it’s a
reminder.
“Apart from anything else, his
performance is not what you would
expect from someone who has a dis-
ability. We don’t have to set targets
for him – he tends to set his own and
frankly his targets can be quite stag-
gering.”
After 13 years in the business,
what does Nick see as his secret for
success?
“There is no exact method for
selling a motor car,” he says, “but a
big part of it is the way you deal with
people. Often a car will sell itself, but
the reason a person chooses to buy it
from you and not from someone else,
is how you treat them.
“Being successful at
selling cars is all about
looking after people. If
you take care of them
they will keep coming
back and they will bring
their friends and relatives
as well.”
Nick says that most
customers are not both-
ered at all by the fact that
he gets about the showroom in a
motorised scooter. Although he has
restricted movement with his left arm
and hand he compensates to some
extent by having a very strong right
arm that he uses to lift himself into
and out of vehicles, including four-
wheel drives.
But despite the fact that he is just
as competent at his job as his peers,
Nick still strikes problems with the
occasional customer who shuns him
because of his disability.
“Sometimes you get a big,
macho bloke come in who makes it
clear that he is not going to deal with
‘that little bloke in the wheelchair’,
but I just have to take that in my
stride,” he says.
“There can also be problems
when the roles are reversed and I go
shopping. Some sales people take
a look at you and you can tell they
think you can’t have much buying
power and they will ignore you. If
someone who is not disabled is with
you they will start delivering their
sales pitch to them, rather than to
you, even though they’re not buying.
“Being in the business, I am very
aware that they are making a big
mistake. If you want to make a sale
you have to treat everyone equally.
After all, you can have a wealthy
person come into your shop in shorts
and thongs and if you treat them as
someone of no account you will be
making a big mistake. It is always
important not to judge someone on
the way they look.”
And that is all that Nick asks of
other people. He doesn’t want to be
given special treatment, just to be
given a fair go. Thankfully most peo-
ple he meets are happy to do that, to
the point where he says he also forgets
that he is disabled. He rarely socialises
with other disabled people, not be-
cause he doesn’t want to,
but because he is leading
a normal life he simply
doesn’t come into contact
with them any more than
anyone else.
He says he enjoys
life, even though he
would sometimes like
to walk or run or get
around in the same way
as everyone else. But on the whole
he has the same struggles in life that
other people have, fighting things
like bad moods and laziness. And
like most other young men he says
he would like to meet the right girl
and settle down.
“Generally, I am like everyone
else,” he says. “After all, we are all
disabled in some way, it’s just that
99 per cent of the time you can’t
see it.”