"Huge Supported Accommodation "

"My Daughter SA is a 34-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and a moderate to severe Intellectual disability since birth. SA was not breathing at birth and suffered brain damage. Her physical and cognitive milestones were delayed throughout her life. SA often displays significantly challenging behaviours with or without warnings. Her aggressive behaviours involve hitting, throwing objects or her shoes at others, pulling others’ hair and scratching. Ms SA first started attending SPWD group home, she was very confused about what was happening. This led to outbursts, refusal and unhappiness. She is limited with speech and has no ability to express herself through language. The SPWD support workers give her positive feelings and encourage SA to overcome all her fears. SPWD are helping SA with positive programs containing strategies for reinforcing appropriate behaviours and new skills. With the continuous support and encouragement, SA has shown improvements with her communication skills and is also showing response by facial and body expressions to her support worker’s questions or when she needs anything. SPWD are supporting my daughter with personal care where they are taking care of her hygiene and cleanliness and working on empowering her with the ability to carry out personal care as independently as possible. SA has shown a lot of improvements and with continuous support, she can live a more independent life in the future with the service SPWD ."

"VD is a 48-year-old male who has a background history of Intellectual disability, Schizophrenia Paranoia and Parkinsonism. He was admitted to SPWD group home after a traumatic accident that led to significant brain injuries. Because of the traumatic event, VD required intense assistance to thrive in the community. VD does is effectively bed-bound and wheelchair-bound and is unable to stand without assistance. His condition has also significantly affected his swallow and resulted in a dependency on PEG feeding for nutritional purposes. He also has reduced memory capacity. He requires 24- hour high-level care and assistance with his medication, showering, dressing, feeding and all the other personal care. VD joined SPWD SIL accommodation just before the Pandemic. The support workers have been maintaining wearing masks, sanitizing, keeping a safe distance and adhering to all health and safety regulations. To ensure that his medication is taken daily, and that he is understood and supported with his mental health and his declining mobility and daily functioning. SPWD made sure for VD that, he feels in control of his life and lives as independently as possible. SPWD Support workers’ understanding of how and why VD communicates and needs to be communicated with, is critical in supporting him to move forward. SPWD’s aims are to give him the information in a way he can understand, help him feel validated, valued and in control, as well as support him to engage in decision making and problem-solving so he feels in control and that he has made the choice himself. Today with the help of support staff, he is more confident and comfortable with the other people around him. It would be an opportunity for VD to live regularly without having his disability as a barrier. With the right equipment and support, SPWD make sure VD move comfortably and confidently in the group home and community and socialize with people in public without feeling isolated and shy."

"SC is a 24-year-old, non-verbal female with learning difficulties who was moved to supported accommodation with Support People With Disabilities PTY LTD (SPWD) in 2019. SC has been diagnosed with Fragile X syndrome and it is associated with a moderate to severe intellectual disability. She has also been diagnosed with Pierre-Robin syndrome /Sequence, a condition in which babies are born with a small lower jaw, cleft palate and upper respiratory breathing obstruction. SPWD supporting SC with her community access, personal care and Support Independent Living (SIL). SC barely engages in any particular routine or activities on a daily basis. She requires to be able to continue working on her learning needs and physical issues. She has difficulties in all activities of daily living. She has difficulty expressing her needs, concerns, thoughts and feelings. She lacks hygiene maintenance skills and also has poor emotional regulations hence difficulty in cultivating and maintaining friendships. The support workers help her and keep her instructed all the time. Sometimes they also encourage her to do her own work and take her own decision for building up self-assurance. Ms SC’s goal is to be an independent individual that is capable of taking care of her personal needs, including necessary daily living skills. It is still a long way to go, but we have seen inspiring improvements in her behaviour and capabilities. She now cooperates with the support workers in assisting her more than she used to in the beginning. SPWD working on SC’s self-confidence and is constantly providing a supportive environment to stimulate her interest in activities to improve her quality of life."