My NDIS Plan
Part 1: My participant statement
This is about how I live my life, who helps me and what I want to do (my personal circumstances, aspirations, goals and objectives)
Daily life
I am 18 years old and am due to finish attending college on the 24th of November 2015.
Currently I am assisted by support workers that have been hired from a range of agencies with my present NDIS funding to learn to get myself ready for college every school week morning from 7:30am to 8:50am. I am also supported to do some chores like stacking and unstacking the dishwasher and putting my clothes away. I am then taken to college by a support worker and attend college from 8:50 am until 2:30.
I don’t enjoy college. I refuse to get out of the car and my mother is often required to come and encourage me to get out of the car and go into college.
My teachers and Learning Support Assistants have had support from an occupational therapist and speech therapist to help me to develop my communication and be able to learn in the classroom. My mother has also run several training sessions for the staff and made them some practice PODD communication books. The teaching staff at my college have worked hard to support me and my learning.
After college l am picked up every day by a support worker who will support me to participate in community activities that I enjoy. On Friday nights I am assisted by a support worker to hang out at home or go out with my friends independently of my parents.
I have been practicing doing mail and magazine deliveries at school and at Kippax Health Centre. The National Health Coop have offered me an opportunity to do further work experience with them in 2016 delivering magazines to the waiting rooms in all of their surgeries.
I have had the support of my microboard to develop the ideas around my small business which will involve mail pick up and delivery and magazine delivery. Sally Richards has also supported me to develop my business. I now need the support of a business advisor to help me work out the fine detail of how my business will operate.
In February 2016 I am aiming to be working 4 mornings a week in my small mail and magazine delivery business. Currently my microboard is helping me to set up my small business. The microboard also wishes to hire a professional to assist us in setting up the business to ensure we do all that is legally required of us.
In February 2016 I am also aiming to go to the University of Canberra one morning a week to participate in a variety of University experiences such as attending a class, going to social events, borrowing books from the library, hanging out with other students and joining a club.
Living arrangements
I live with my mum Sheree, my stepfather David, my brother Ben who is 21 years old and his girlfriend Savannah. Both of my parents work fulltime and my brother is at University and also works four days per week. My brother’s girlfriend Savannah studies full time at University.
My home has some safety modifications that my family have had completed such as step rails and kitchen guards. This helps to ensure that if I get up through the night and when I am not sleeping well, I won’t put myself or the family at risk by going into the kitchen unsupported.
The bathroom at my house isn’t safe for me. I trip on the edge. On one occasion I injured myself so badly, I couldn’t walk properly for two weeks. The shower head is also easy for me to grab and I sometimes move it so that it sprays water on the wall and the light switch. My family need some assistance to modify the shower.
My family are assisting me to plan for when I am ready to move out of home into a place of my own. I would like to live with people who can share my home and provide some supports during some parts of the day. I will also need assistance from other people with more formal supports that I require. I want to live in an ordinary home in an ordinary suburb in Canberra. My home will be my safe haven where I can be free to be who I am and where I can party and relax. I will be known in my community and assisted to make friends with some of my neighbours. I am on the housing list with ACT Department of Housing. It would be helpful for me and my family to have more assistance with this to help me find and develop this vision of my home as an adult.
Relationships and supports
My main supporters are my mum Sheree and step father David with some assistance from my brother Ben, his girlfriend Savannah, my microboard
members and some paid support obtained through several agencies and funded by the NDIS.
I have found that there are too many support workers in my life and they are sometimes not skilled enough or the right fit to support me in the way I need. There are also several agencies supplying my support workers as individually they have not been able to supply the support I need.
In 2016 my microboard will take over the recruitment of staff and my support coordinator will manage the staff for me. This way I can be involved in the selection of my staff and build their capacity to support me as a team. My microboard will need support to learn to do this.
Last year I transitioned from High School to College. Since starting college it has been hard for me to develop new friendships in the college environment. There are many possible reasons for this which may include the lack of understanding on the college’s behalf of the importance of friendships and the role they play in supporting me to form them, and the acceptance that this is their role not just to help me learn.
My mother hired assistance from Imagine More using NDIS funding to set up a bunch of mates but we were not successful in setting it up. My mother believes this is because the school wanted to manage it and would not let her into the school to make it happen due to their interpretation of ACT Government policies.
My microboard has been very successful in helping me make friends outside of college. I now have 5 people my own age on my microboard and who I socialise with. About once a month I do social activities like going to see a live band and ten pin bowling with my microboard members and friends. I will also be going on a holiday with some of my microboard members and friends in December.
My microboard also needs ongoing support to operate effectively as a legal entity and implementing key values and principles of social inclusion.
My aspirations, goals and objectives
My Economic Participation goal is: To be working in a part time job that I enjoy, am good at and the wider community values.
What I want to achieve (my objective): To design and start up a viable mail pick up and delivery business.How I will know that I have achieved it (measure):
· I will break even within 6 months
· I will enjoy my work
· I will have developed my skills
· My clients will express high levels of satisfaction with the service
Strategies:
· Hire a business analyst to write a business plan and develop business processes
· Continue to do work experience with the National Health Coop
· I will have assistance to get to and from my work experience placements
· I will have assistance to support my work experience placement and help me complete and learn tasks while I am there
· My microboard members will receive assistance to build their capacity to help me achieve my economic participation goals
· My supporters will have assistance to help me develop my literacy and numeracy skills.
My Independence goal is: To increase my ability to be more independent at home, university, work and in the community
What I want to achieve (my objective): To increase my communication skillsHow I will know that I have achieved it (measure): I will be able to use my PODD with a range of communication partners including friends, family, teachers and paid supports. I will be able to communicate for a large variety of purposes.
Strategies:
· My family, friends microboard members and paid supports will have support to learn about my communication tool PODD and how they can effectively use it with me
· I will be assisted to use my communication tool PODD across all of my environments to interact with a range people and for a range of communication purposes
· I will be assisted to update and reprint my PODD book to keep it relevant and useful
· I will have assistance to print practice PODD books for my supporters to practice on.
My Living arrangements goal is: I will continue living at home and start planning for when I will move out
What I want to achieve (my objective): To develop a plan that is reflective of my vision of what my home will be like when I move out and start connecting with the right people to help me realise this vision.How I will know that I have achieved it (measure): I will have a plan that identifies the steps, supports and people I need to make connections with to assist me with my vision of what my home as an adult will be like.
Strategies:
· I will have assistance to develop my plan for my vision of what my home as an adult will look like and the supports I will require to achieve this
· I will have assistance from a coordinator to connect with the right people and organisations to help me progress my vision and implement the plan developed, as I know it will take time to build these relationships.
· My Microboard members will receive assistance to build their capacity to help me achieve my living arrangement goals
My Social Participation goal is: to be connected to and actively participate in the mainstream community
How I will know that I have achieved it (measure): I will regularly attend community events with friends
Strategies:
· I will have assistance to identify activities and ways that I can interact with peers, in line with my interests and strengths
· I will have supports to assist my social interactions, communication and with my personal care when I am spending time with friends
· my friends will be supported to become effective communication partners and be able to use my PODD to communicate with me
· My microboard members will receive assistance to build their capacity to help me achieve my social participation
What I want to achieve (my objective): I will be a member of a community social club
How I will know that I have achieved it (measure): I will have identified a group that I am interested and have regularly attended
Strategies:
· I will be assisted by my coordinator and microboard to identify groups and clubs in my community that I would like to connect with and trial
· I will be assisted to trial some new groups and clubs to see which ones I like and might like to continue attending
· The group will be assisted to include me in activities