An opinion piece by Thea Calzoni
Support workers employed by disability service providers are not always the creative and fun-loving types that communicate best with my adult son. He appreciates his traditional supporters in group contexts, but for personal support, he needs a kindred spirit. Before I go on, however, I need to say that despite the challenges of intellectual disability, my son is outgoing and confident, and totally happy for me to talk about him and tell you that his name is Julian.
He always ticks the box to permit display of his photo and stories about his activities. He likes to perform. The covid lockdown has stopped him from going to his dance group, but he does a little dancing and gentle exercise at his disability day program, which is operating in a modified form. Otherwise, he is not as active as he used to be. In some ways this suits him, as he finds conversation tiring when he is not in a supported setting.
He is interested in the ways people communicate but in real life, he can’t always manage to connect successfully.
At home, in his fantasy life, either watching DVD dramas of young people having fun, or trawling YouTube for emergency services workers dealing with crises, he feels a partner to their activities. This is positive, but doing it for hours at a time is not good for his posture or his physical fitness. To give him the choice of more fun and fitness, I connected us with Hireup.
Hireup had been recommended to me by other NDIS participants who were happy with their choice of support worker, privacy and safety provisions. I was pleased to find that Hireup pays support workers award rates, and takes care of their tax and superannuation. And, importantly, booking a support worker through Hireup entitles you to public liability insurance that covers you for any accident or accidental damage that occurs during the shift.
The couple of hours it took to register was worth it for completing a good profile with a secure login. Even better was having access to a range of talented workers who lived locally. Once I had exchanged messages with a Hireup support worker about the times and activities of support, I made an initial booking for a meet and greet, for Julian to have a cuppa and a chat with her.
Wielding the teapot, I facilitated their conversation as my son needs support to communicate with people unfamiliar with his meaningful sounds and gestures. He was understandably wary of a new person at first, but finding her friendly, respectful and fun, he gave her some of his precious video watching time. They sampled songs from each other’s phone playlists, and looked at photos of what my son likes to do.
It’s within the lockdown rules to have one-to-one support worker assistance - masked up, of course - at home. And our regular Hireup bookings are progressing beyond my expectations.
Without the distractions that preoccupied him in the group he used to attend, Julian has been able to learn steps for one of his favourite tracks, ‘Let’s Dance’. He’s motivated to move more and talks about when he will have his next session. To arrange for invoicing, all I have to do is reply to a message asking if the shift booking has been fulfilled, and Hireup email me the invoice that I process through Julian’s self-managed NDIS funding arrangement.
Having a dance support worker with Hireup’s administration and insurance coverage helps Julian’s goal of accessing diverse recreational activities. He has recently had friendly encounters with an artist and her gentle greyhound in the park. As she has disability teaching experience, I have encouraged her to register as a support worker with Hireup.
My plan is to expand our use of the platform to build up a team of creative support workers to keep Julian active and engaged in life beyond traditional day supports.
Thea Calzoni serves on the Committee of Management of VALID, the Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability. She has blogged for the Every Australian Counts Campaign and is launching her memoir, Dancing with the Maternal Bond, during Carers Week 2021.
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Thea Calzoni
Thea Calzoni serves on the Committee of Management of VALID, the Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability. She has blogged for the Every Australian Counts Campaign and is launching her memoir, Dancing with the Maternal Bond, during Carers Week 2021.