The balancing act between self-determination and risk

I’ve walked the tightrope between self-determination and risk my whole life. It’s a common thing when you live and work alongside people with disability. In so many instances, people with disability have risk-based decisions made on their behalf, leaving them little room for self-determination. To make decisions and choices about their own life and to decide where and how to push the boundaries so that they might live the life they choose.

I’ve seen the importance of this balance in so many cases, whether it’s with my brother, who lives with disability, or my 20 plus years working in the disability sector at not-for-profit organisations, Government and, now, Hireup. When we enable people to take riskbased decisions about their own lives, we enable self-determination. And when we enable self-determination, we foster important life skills like independence and confidence, giving people the tools to exercise their rights, learn and grow.

This is a central tenet in our approach to keeping people safe at Hireup. In the past, I’ve worked with organisations whose safety policies and practices were focussed on risk assessments made by people who were, at times, entirely unaware of the wants, abilities and rights of people with disability. In these instances, the tightrope teetered with every request for something new or different. “We’ll need to complete a full risk assessment of the location and the individual first.”

But, having been part of the Hireup family for four years now, I can safely say the balancing act has never been so exciting. Safety is driven by our community. When we take decisions, we take them with our community, not for our community. With the mum who requires support to get her kids to school. With the young kid who wants to skate at the local park. With the guy who wants to travel overseas. Or with the couple with a number of specialised support needs living independently.

Each new person comes with a new way of using support that matches what they want out of life. And these new ideas are a welcome opportunity to push ourselves in our role as a registered NDIS service provider. To take responsibility for the things we ought to, like providing training for support workers; ensuring a supportive and fair avenue for people to effectively report any concerns or incidents; reducing the use of restrictive practices where we can; or making choice and control a given, not a bonus. We believe that taking on this responsibility as a registered NDIS provider is what pushes us to constantly improve, to expect better of ourselves and to ensure our community is educated when it comes to their rights, whether that’s their right to complain, or their right to a life free from abuse. Our goal is to put people first, always. To continue to learn. To build relationships. To foster respect. To keep balancing the tightrope. And to live. Because after all, that’s what safety is all about.