The fact he is also Aboriginal can make it even harder, but what he has learned living with blindness he is now using to help others in a similar position.

And Tamworth parents Michael Allen and Gemma McDonald were only too happy to benefit from that wisdom at a unique workshop held in the city yesterday.

The fact he is also Aboriginal can make it even harder, but what he has learned living with blindness he is now using to help others in a similar position.

And Tamworth parents Michael Allen and Gemma McDonald were only too happy to benefit from that wisdom at a unique workshop held in the city yesterday.

Empowerment to make life choices

By Erin Handley 

INDIGENOUS locals with a disability and their carers gathered in Tamworth yesterday to learn about empowering choices.

For Tamworth parents Michael Allan and Gemma McDonald, the information about how to access services was vital. 

The pair have three children – one with autism, one with ADHD and their third has suffered speech development delay in the past. 

The family moved to Quirindi several years ago, but returned to Tamworth because there were fewer services for their children’s needs and travelling for multiple doctors’ appointments every week was taking its toll. 

“We found it hard. It was isolated,” Ms McDonald said. “I usually cater to their every need.

“My youngest doesn’t have a disability but she had the aftermath – I was having to concentrate on the boys and she was pushed to the back.”

She said her boys required solid communication and if their routine was disrupted “their world starts spinning”. 

She said while isolation was something all regional areas faced, it could be compounded for Indigenous locals. 

“You don’t know who to ask or where to go for help,” she said. 

Ms McDonald said she had kept silent about her family’s disabilities for some time. 

“It took a friend to give [a disability support service] my number and tell them I needed help,” she said. 

Their eldest son, at 12, is enrolled in a mainstream school and they wanted to find out about how to develop a plan for the incoming National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). 

Armidale elder and disability advocate Steve Widders, who is blind, said the point of the Living My Way workshops visiting the New England region was to help families like this. 

Mr Widders said there was a general lack of knowledge about the NDIS, due to be fully rolled out from July 2016.

“It is important to inform the Aboriginal community of changes in the disability sector, so they can maximise the benefit with proper planning and make informed decisions,” Mr Widders said. 

“These workshops are just planting the seed.”

He said the hope was individuals, rather than organisations, would dictate how their disability funding could be used. 

“It’s not just about money, it’s about a better quality of life,” Mr Widders said. 

“It’s going outside the square a little bit, too, particularly with younger kids – they’ll have more choice for their future.

“They don’t have to do what the government says they have to do.

“It gives more options, more choices, more flexibility. And when people make their own choices, those benefits will be reaped from the rest of the community.”

He said the community needed to be more aware of what having a disability meant. 

“There’s a perception out there in the general community that you’ve only got a disability if you’re in a wheelchair,” he said. 

“But it’s all sorts of things, and particularly relevant for the Aboriginal community is the recognition of mental illness as a disability ... it is widespread.”