Leadership Dreams

In December I was fortunate enough to join the Leaders for Tomorrow Program. The program is funding by the federal government. In my understanding it is a prequel to the NDIS. The program is about support people with a disability to embark in leadership roles in sport, arts, culture, employment and government to name a few of the options. 

I  am really excited as I started my leadership dreamings and exploring some goals I like to take a stab at in 2013 and beyond.

Leadership Retreat December 2012

My Leadership Dreams

My leadership dreams center around full social inclusion for people with a disability in the Ipswich region. In my travels I meet many people with a disability who I think could help shape Ipswich into a great city for people to live, work and play, however aren’t given the opportunity to do so. During 2013 I want to gain skills to enable me to encourage other people with disabilities to be more active in our community, workplace and decision making processes.

Not side by side, where people with disabilities have an opportunity to shape their futures, rather where people with disabilities work with others in the community to influence the future directions of this great city.

Big dream huh? That’s just what they are dreams rather than goals. However, while my local community is my target, eventually there’ll be 200 leaders with a disability across Australia working towards similar goals. 

My goals span over a 10 year period, so you’ll be happy to know, I’m not planning to achieve this in 2013! Currently I have 4 goals I wanting to work towards.  Some goals will be completed by 2014 but most won’t.

  

My Leadership Goals

I am hoping my passion for the ‘arts’ will take center stage in 2013, as I work towards achieving my goals! Including working towards my own art exhibition in 2014!

2.   An art retreat to train artists with a disability in the West Morten Area in their area of arts interest.

3.   Working towards Disability Awareness in Ipswich city.

4.   Training and mentoring people with a disability who seek to engage in leadership positions which  will enable them to help shape the future of this region.

While my goals centew around working with people with disabilities in 2013, my dream is this will launch then into main stream community involvements through their own individual interests, whether the be sporting, leisure, the arts, leadership in the workplace, education, advocacy roles, community roles or political.

Of course a large part of my dream is dependent on the introduction of the NDIS.  So as part of my new role is  assisting with Disability Awareness in the Blair.

Looking forward to sharing my leadership journey through out the year.

Peter's Story - Every Australian Counts

When They're Counting on US!

As a person with a disability I count myself blessed for being born in Australia, I find it difficult to imagine, myself being born in a country such as India, where no services exist and people labelled as ‘lame’ often are abandoned at birth because the child has no potential to support the family.
Back home in Australian I enjoy the blessings of being part of my family and the freedom to play an active role in my community. However, not every person with a disability is so fortunate. Many families live in a constant state of kaos as they struggle to meet the needs of their child who has a disability. It is usually the case the parents remain responsible for the child’s ongoing care well into their adult years. By which time their other children have established independent lives.

Even more heart breaking, are the stories I hear and read about of people who acquire a significant disability in later life. I hear stories from people who medical professionals deem beyond worthy of the same medical attention as an able bodied person, because of their ‘perceived’ limited ability to participate in the community.

Sadly the only option for some people, who acquire a profound disability during their adult years, becomes a life in a nursing home, where they are the youngest resident by twenty or thirty years.
Whether or not a person has a family who have the capacity to care and support a person with a disability should not be the sole determination of whether a person with a disability lives in the community or ‘in care’.

The sad reality in Australia at present is the types of support services available to individuals with a disability or families who care for a member of their family who have disabilities is dependent on so many variables. This area things such as where you live (different formulas apply in different states.); the type of disability (for example access to appropriate therapies for children with Cerebral Palsy are much more accessible, than children who have Autism, even when the child’s needs are greater), general community support plays a huge role in determining the quality of life some with a disability can have. If a community as a whole can advocate for a person’s needs then supports are developed.
Despite advances in human rights and disabilities standards, inequality for service provision and support carry a wide gap between one person with a disability and another. At present gaining any type of assistance is a game of chance. You fill in the paper work, jump through the various hoops and hope for something, often the tiniest percentage of what you actually need. The randomness of the successful outcome has no rhythm or rhyme to it. It’s like playing lotto sometimes your numbers come up, but often they don’t.

But thankfully after much shouting, protesting, submissions, interviewers, a royal commission things in Australia look set to change and people with a disability look like having the same access to services regardless of whether they live in Wollongong, Darwin or a cattle station in Western Australian. Sadly in my home state of Queensland the fight to join the National Disability Insurance Scheme still continues. However, the persistence and victories won by my fellow campaigners in other states helps me hold out for hope.

Meanwhile we continue to don on our red t-shirts, hold up our ‘Every Australian Counts!’ signs, and walk the streets until our voices too are heard. We will continue to write to our members of parliament, make phone calls, talk to the media, continue to share our stories, until we too have our needs covered by a National Insurance Scheme. Please visit http://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/about/ for information on the National Disability Insurance scheme and the recommendations of the productivity commission.
As we continue to echo the phase Every Australian Counts, until everybody will a disability has access to the same support and assistance as the peers living anywhere in Australia, including outback Queensland then you can join us at http://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/home/. Even better come join us on Friday 26 October for a disabilityTEA somewhere in this great south land, or even hold your own, and let people know Every Australian Counts.

This my friends is an example of what we at BAD#12 call The Power of We! The collective power a choir of voices can achieve. While it is difficult for an individual to create change when enough individuals speak or act together the real change can and does occur.
To day we bloggers around the world are uniting to spread the message that we do hold the power to change the world! I encourage you not just to read my story, the story of other bloggers around the world via visiting the http://blogactionday.org website.

Remember on the world stage of social change YOU’RE VOICE COUNTS!

The Power of We

Blog Action Day is here again . . . and this year’s theme is The Power of We! Bloggers are hitting the key boards, ipads and phones to lend their voices to world change, because we believe we can use our skills to institute world change.  Whether our voices are calling for an end to the child sex slave trade, providing water for the people; bringing Christmas gifts, love and hope to children who have never received a gift before; treating AIDS; fighting for disability reform; dispelling myths around epilepsy; educating women about cancer and making it a preventable disease; We members of BAD#12 believe our collective voices are heard and result in real change!

Mother Teresa one of the greatest humanitarians of our times said, “If you can’t feed a hundred hungry people, then just feed one.”  For me, the true meaning of the power of we, is about millions of alone voices, joining collective voices, changing our world one person at a time. You can smile at a stranger, you can hug someone you love, you can feed a stranger, you can build a well for clean water, you can provide a child’s school books, you can pay for a vaccination, you can urge a girl friend to be diligent in her own health care or you can give a stranger a copy of a book that influenced you the most. If enough of these one off acts are performed by individuals then a catalyst for world change has begun. Will you join me on World Blog Day to knock down a domino to create a change in our world, because we do hold the power?  

  

   

Girl's Night In - We hold the power to create change!