“It’s been a long time coming but I think I’m finally going to get what I need. Yep, a place where my family and friends aren’t afraid to visit.”
mark
When I became disabled 20 years ago, at the age of 23, my life changed drastically. Suddenly I couldn’t move, I was having trouble performing daily tasks, then I also had all these strangers looking after me. But the biggest blow of all, suddenly I wasn’t able to live at home.
My home wasn’t disability-friendly and I needed a high level of care. I really needed some sort of needs-specific accommodation, especially as staying in hospital long-term is never a viable option.
Initially I was thrown around between a few care facilities, then finally I landed in a 20-bed specialist disability housing service. This was 16 years ago and sadly I still live here today. I just never had any other options. However, I am finally breaking free.
What the NDIS has enabled, this is choice and opportunity - who wants to be stuck in a “mini nursing home” for 16 years? Pretty awful. It hasn’t been straight-forward, this process has been unbelievably slow.
I first made my SDA application 3 years ago and ever since I’ve been stuck in this whirlpool of paperwork and bureaucracy. I’d fill out forms, wouldn’t hear anything for months. I’ve had to put up with a lot of crap and unnecessary hardship too.
But the worst thing, I couldn’t make any long-term plans. It’s like I’ve been living in limbo for these past few years. Am I moving or am I not? Well, as it turns out… finally… yes, I am.
I’m excited, nervous (mainly because I’ve become so institutionalised), but most of all I’m looking forward to some sort of autonomy. And honestly, I don’t know what this will look like yet but I’m hoping it will look a lot like beer and pizza for breakfast. I just want to be a bloke.
After living in regimented care for so long now, I’ve forgotten who I am; so many parts of my identity have been supressed, so this is what I’m hoping to discover in my new home - me.
It’s been a long time coming but I think I’m finally going to get what I need. Yep, a place where my family and friends aren’t afraid to visit.
Happy days.