Disability and the impact on family and friend's

Disability and the impact on family and friends and the role of care programs, both good and bad.

So, this is going to be a very Australian post due to the NDIS before the rollout of the NDIS care programs were state-based and varied in quality.  We did have some level of care but not a lot.

Now it is big business, and we see that it’s a very big thing in Australia and they are encouraging us to work or to start our own business, but the question is at what emotional cost to people. So this is the impact on the people around you so friends and family as if you can’t work and they still want to support you they are the ones picking up the physical costs of running around to the Doctors and other medical appointments and this comes at a cost to their car and the petrol as well.

We then see that if you need help with budgeting and household tasks and can’t get help at home or are taking a break from the support that people need to keep your house running, they are essentially running two houses if you live away from the family home.

We also see the impact of if a person lives at home they don’t develop the emotional maturity to be able to cope with living away from home and what that requires and living with different personalities. Also if another family member gets sick what happens then as well, and what happens when that person starts to act out as well?

There is also an emotional impact on the person’s friendship network because the person might not have the same income and be able to go to places that they used to go, they might not be able to pay for the things that people who are working can do as well and they might not fit into programs that are “disability friendly,” sometimes these actually are quite patronizing and we see that they aren’t great for the person as well as they are told what they need to do, and they might not have the same level of time or energy as well so they might need to budget energy and this can have an impact on their relationships as well.

I see that this is what has gone on in my life in a major way and this isn’t great we see that this is something that needs to change, and we are in Australia in the process of changing it, but it does take time as well to change it.

We see also that Sil houses have rules around who can and can’t be in the house and this is fair enough but it also limits the person’s social activities even more and people with disabilities are more at risk for social isolation and this is something that people need to be aware of social isolation can affect anyone not just people with disabilities and it needs to be addressed as well as the internet has made us more connected but less connected at the same time and we see that this connection is very superficial as well is it is very tokenistic at times and as much as a support worker can provide companionship it’s not a replacement for friendship with people of all ages.   

Sil houses are what we call group homes in Australia they are supported independent living and they are generally run by a disability service provider as well so they generally have support imbedded in them as well so the support workers helping with activities of daily living so they  essentially help run the household so activities of daily living being meal planning, cooking, cleaning, personal hygiene prompting, understanding relationships and getting the person to their commitments on time so do they  work a couple days a week so if they work getting them to work on time, and helping them just have a good quality of life but this quality of life can be impacted in a massive way due to the support teams at times and this can be a massive issue and I will do a blog post on this one as well as I have had both good and bad experience’s with support workers that have led me to not being able to trust support workers, until recently in my life and this has impacted every relationship I have had as well so I will do a blog post on good and bad support as well as relationships with a disability and romantic relationships as well.