Support workers and disablity services agenices we need to talk.

 

It’s bright and early in my housing facility and this is a good thing, I have checked off what I need to do, and when the others have gone to their activities I will start recording and studying, but I am finding that I must be doing something right as people who have never experienced disability either in themselves or in a family member or a fired seem to get very offended when I am suggesting easy things that need to change in people who work as support workers as I am finding that there is I thought two groups of people but I am finding it’s three, people who needed a job and have come into support work and do the job, people who have experience of disability and got attracted to the job and people who have a real passion for helping people with a disability and want to make a difference.

The first two if they are willing and able to learn the difference’s between work and a calling it’s great but for those who just consider this a job and turn up on the dot of time, I am also noticing that it’s younger people who are well I don’t get paid to do that so I am not doing it, well I  do and don’t get where you are coming from as people need to  be paid for a job but every job has things that you don’t get paid for and if you have a good boss this is where the opportunity lies and lets talk about the elephant in the room the harm that this attitude of well I don’t get paid for that can and is causing real harm to clients and this is where I am not going to stop speaking out as it’s a job caring for others and this is a hard job, but when your see it only as a job this is where the danger lies, and I am seeing it’s generally younger people who are saying no I am only going to turn up on the dot, of when I am rostered on, but expecting other’s to turn up early so you can get  away on the dot, I am sorry to say that it doesn’t work like that and welcome to the working world.

I don’t think I am whining when I say that this is the tip of the iceberg with support workers who consider this a job as if you're going on the dot and a person isn’t safe without a support worker or needs help and you well my shift is over I am out, sorry you could be responsible for the harm of that person, or even the death and this is where I have found agencies that are ethical and say no if a person is in public or in a vulnerable position you stay until the situation is over.

We also need to be aware that currently there is a low barrier to entry and this is where the problem lies that  people and agencies are desperate for workers it’s an easy job to get but people in some agencies aren’t supported and need to be to get training, but receiving push back is the best thing as it’s showing me that by speaking up we have the power to change things and that it’s not going to be easy but I have seen some agencies victim blame when people speak up and not support their staff with difficult and challenging clients and this is where people start to realise it’s not an easy job, and just because you have cared for a family member doesn’t mean you know everything about disability it means you have more understanding, also I am seeing some of the older agencies that are pre NDIS are having a hard time adjusting to the NDIS model of person cantered care and the ability  of families to advocate for clients and the agencies get frustrated when things don’t go the way they planned them, and this then leads to support workers feeling let down and that is why we are losing the good support workers, but I  do have compassion for the young people coming into this  industry who have been told about acting your wage and quiet quitting and wondering why then they don’t get the shifts or are actively demoted it’s because of this attitude of

·        I am going to turn up exactly on time if they want me to turn up early  they can roster me on early,

·       I don’t get paid to do that so I am not going to do that

·       I am in charge of this person so I can yell at them and boss them around

Then in a brilliant ethical agency I have seen they insist that support workers are matched to clients that they vibe with, That support workers are supporting on their end in their personal lives, that clients are supported at all life stages and levels, and that support staff where their uniforms with respect, and I  am on the side of a uniform is a good thing as it makes staff more accountable in public, I don’t get the drama around having a uniformed support worker as we are fighting for the de-stigmatization of disability so isn’t normalizing having a uniformed support worker a good thing, it also protects the client and support worker,  so I happy to have a person in uniform when in public, I do get however that some situations this could prove to be dangerous to the client and this is when discretion comes into play but the people whom I see whining about having to turn up early and having to do the hard work of documenting and incident reports.

So what I noticed is that it generally seems to be the younger generation that wants to do two things, argue in my comments section and tell me how out of touch I am, but how inclusive they are, I have noticed that this is also a more pervasive problem as well when they talk about how inclusive they are but when your start unmasking or even asking for accommodations, like having support and being assertive about what you want in a support worker and how they need to act and do, the room suddenly gets very quiet so until we are given a set at a table and not needing to bring a folding chair I am going to keep calling you out on your inclusivity shit as it’s not inclusive if we can’t come because the venue isn’t accessible or that you get uncomfortable about our existence.