Dylan Alcott has weighed in on Eddie McGuire's coin-toss gaffe, saying the blunder has uncovered an "awesome" positive.
Prominent football figure McGuire was forced to apologise when he ridiculed the pre-match coin toss while hosting Fox Footy's coverage of the Sydney-Adelaide match.
McGuire jokingly said people should be fined if the coin isn't flipped correctly. However, his comments came as Swans ambassador Cynthia Banham - a respected journalist and double amputee - had tossed the coin.
He immediately apologised on air, and stood down from hosting commitments for the rest of the weekend.
Again apologising on radio on Monday, McGuire admitted he felt "physically ill" over his gaffe.
"I just sat down straight away and composed a letter of apology to Cynthia. My colleagues were able to get her phone number so I could send it to her," McGuire said on Triple M.
MORE: McGuire doubles down on Banham apology, explains on-air gaffe
Wheelchair Grand Slam winner and AFL Footy Show panellist Alcott revealed during Wednesday's show that he had spoken to McGuire.
Alcott said McGuire was "remorseful" and believed he had no intention to deliberately slander Banham.
However, Alcott explained why McGuire's comments had pinched a nerve, whether the Collingwood president meant them or not.
"He had absolutely no idea Cynthia had a disability. And if he knew that he said that, he wouldn’t have said that and I believe him," Alcott said.
"There are a lot of people saying he should lose his job and things like that, and you know what, we all make a mistakes.
"But for a lot of people with a disability, the reason that it struck such a chord with the disabled community is, I’ve been in a wheelchair my whole life, we’re always compared to the able-bodied way of doing it.
"If you can’t do it the able-bodied, 'normal' way, then you get discriminated against, you get ridiculed and you don’t even get jobs.
"If I’m honest with you... that happened to me all the time."
Alcott is no stranger to poignant speeches - following his fifth consecutive Australian Open quad wheelchair title at Melbourne Park in January, Alcott brought the house down.
After receiving the trophy, Alcott opened up about his delight in his match being screened on free-to-air television and how it marked a turning point for people living with a disability.
One of Australia's leading voices when it comes to people living with a disability, Alcott said McGuire's gaffe has also uncovered an "awesome" positive.
The 28-year-old said the attention given to the topic can help able-bodied people learn about certain challenges people living with a disability face in day-to-day life.
"The reason it’s so good that it’s been brought up is, I’m not saying you can’t take the piss out of people with a disability... I would not be on this show otherwise," Alcott said.
"You’ve always got to have a joke about the people that you are. There are 4.5 million Australians with a disability and you can’t see a lot of those disabilities.
"The next time you see somebody doing something differently, let’s not bag them because of it, let’s say 'good on you for doing it the way that you can'.
"I think it’s so awesome that this has come up so everybody can learn, because I’m always learning about things that I don’t know as well.
"Then we can just move on and bloody enjoy the footy."
Yep. @DylanAlcott - all over it. 👌
— The AFL Footy Show (@AFLFootyShow) April 3, 2019
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