safety with a disablity

 So safety does mean different things to different people, for people with a disability there are extra things to think about given that people with a disability are more likely to be the victims of abuse and neglect from the very people who are paid to support them or even family who don’t know how to best support them.  This is a heartbreaking topic to talk about but it is something we need to start talking about because we are in disability pride month and we are still talking about the basics, of disability rights, the basics being, the right to privacy, the right to work, the right to relationships, and the right to freedom of movement, and the right to freedom of expression and the ability to socialize without judgment, but to have advice on healthy and unhealthy relationships.

As well as the ability to feel safe in their own home, which could look like living in the family home, living with others in a “normal” share house, or living in disability services accommodation, such as Sil houses or SDA housing so SDA is specialist disability housing that is built for people with a physical disability, so adjustable benches, lift chairs and hosts as standard as well. But the more common option is Sil houses so this being Supported independent accommodation, this being where you share with other people depending on your ratio of support so this could be 2:1 or 1:3 so this being one support worker or caregiver to two or, three clients.   Generally, they are higher functioning clients, who need a bit of support with life skills, such as cooking, cleaning, and navigating relationships, and often have medical issues that play into the disability.

But this is where having safety is really important as often in a Sil house you don’t have control over who is in your home and its there workplace but this is the difficult thing is what happens when you don’t feel safe in your own home, so this is a difficult and challenging one but the first step if you are not feeling safe is to talk to someone, if its an issue with a support worker, can you go to that support worker, and work it out, but if it is someone that you feel that you can’t go to and work it out having someone else that is out of the situation so this is where having a good support network is really important to be able to reach out to and the other practical thing is being able to record incidents that happen in the house. These people could include another support worker, your housing manager, or your support coordinator or if you don't have access to any of these then it could be a advocacy service. 

But at the same token, this is on you to be able to control your behaviour and to ask for help and have solid boundaries when needed as well, so in this being respecting that a support worker has more than one client that needs help, knowing when to follow directions and when to wait, and realizing that no is a complete sentence and that it might be very reasonable for a person to say no to you.

But safety is something to consider so these are a couple of general things that you can do to be safe as a person with a disability, the first one is knowing who is coming and going from your house that could be support workers, housemates, and other services.

·       To not isolate yourself from staff and other housemates, as well as going on the house outings and being able to interact as well.

·       Not having displays of wealth if you are working as this can create jealousy in the house if others are living on tight budgets and you might be expected to cover for them.

·       Not carrying large amounts of cash and having your wallet or purse out of sight as well.

·       Keeping keys where they are out of sight but easily accessible in an emergency.

·       Keeping mobile in sight or reach at most times if needed to communicate with others.

 

I will do another post on what to do if you have an incident in the house as this is important to protect yourself and how to protect yourself against support workers that don’t have your best interests at heart.  Some come into the industry thinking it’s all community access and not dealing with body fluids, housework, and breaking up arguments over whose turn it is to choose the TV program at night and who is responsible for bringing in the washing.

There are some managing support workers out there who need to be celebrated, but some really need to be open to further training and mentoring.