A guide to helping a person with disability transition to independent living

Start planning early

Preparing to live independently is about slowly building up skills, knowledge and an understanding of the way the world works. That takes time, and it’s important the person you are supporting has a plan in place to develop the life skills they’ll need to live without the day-to-day help of their family. The amount of time this takes will depend on the individual, however it’s a good idea if the person looking to move out is working on this, and having conversations with their family for as long as possible before they actually move out.

Independence begins at home

Before leaving the family home, it’s important the person you are supporting understands the things they’ll need to do for themselves (or the things they may not realise other people are currently doing for them). This can include things like cooking, personal care and managing their finances. It can be a shock for someone when all of a sudden they are the one paying the bills or managing their finances (I know it as for me!). That’s why it’s important for you to encourage the person you’re supporting to start having conversations with their family about moving out and negotiate with their family on how they can be more independent, taking on more responsibility, while they are still living at home. Encouraging them to start doing more things for themselves will go a long way towards building up the persons confidence and skills for when they do leave home. Building on successful experiences of independence while the person is still living at home will also build the families confidence that when their son or daughter, sister or brother does move out, it will be a good and positive experience..

Never assume capacity

It’s really important that the person you are supporting gets an opportunity to try things for themselves, allowing them to work out what they can do, and what they need support with for themselves. That means encouraging them to have conversations with their family about letting them have a go at things, so they can discover how much they are capable of. As you support the person to understand and build their capacity, look at the tasks or activities they already are doing themselves, and the skills they have. For example, if someone has strong technology skills, explore ways these can be used to help them do more independently.

If you’d like to learn more about the plans and goals your customer will need to have in place to get Special Disability Accommodation funding under the NDIS, visit this page: https://www.ndis.gov.au/Operational-Guideline/SDA.html

If you have a customer with SDA funding in place, Nest can help them search and apply for suitable vacancies. Encourage them to register and check out the site. Alternatively, if you’re a support worker or coordinator you can join Nest and search for SDA on behalf of your customers. Register now!