I Believe That One of Life's Greatest Risks Is Never Daring to Risk

Q U O T E S O F T H E D A Y :

I believe that one of life's greatest risks is never daring to risk.

-Oprah Winfrey

Life is a moder-ately good play with a badly written third act.

-Truman Capote

Better by far you should for-get and smile than you should remember and be sad.

-Christina Rossetti

I am a kind of paranoiac in re-verse. I suspect people of plot-ting to make me happy.

-J. D. Salinger

The secret of happiness is to make others believe they are the cause of it.

-Al Batt

Very little is needed to make a happy life.

-Marcus Aurelius

V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 3J U L Y — S E P T 2 0 1 2

Latest DnD Activities

Dear DnD members,

We have some important news for this edition of our newsletter.

First of all DnD project coordinator and admin support person Nicole has left DnD to pursue another career in the community sector. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors. In the meantime we are starting to advertise to look for a new staff to replace her.

In this edition of the DnD newsletter I thought about doing some-thing different than usual. Instead of providing news about what is happening in the disability world, I thought as part of our empowerment process to provide you a few extracts from stories written by people with a disability from different countries around the world talking about their lives experiences and barriers they had to over-come in their paths to achieve their goals.

DnD is running at the moment 5 support groups, including a new relationships group that started last week. The relationships group is run in partnership with Yooralla and ADEC. It is a great opportunity for our members and participants to talk about all different types of relationship they have in their lives, including family, friends, carers, partners and professionals to name a few. People get the chance to talk about issues related to their relationships and share with other people experiences too.

The Arts group is going to have a second open day on the 19th of October at 10.30am for all of you who missed the first open day in July and is interested in finding out and exploring all different types of arts making with painting. It will be also an opportunity for participants to be involved in a “come and try” session. The venue is the

Hunt Club, 775 Ballarat Road in Deer Park. Thanks to the partnership with the Brimbank city council in making this arts group a reality.

Our other support groups which include the music therapy group, the

Geelong’s self advocacy group and the creative writing group are all continuing at full steam till the end of the year.

DnD in partnership with the Disability Discrimination Legal Service has created and started circulating an online survey for a research project on 20 years of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act and its use by people with a disability. For more info please call us on 9367 6044 or email

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Melissa Achieves Independence

High school graduation happens only once in a person's life. Taking the next step can often mean ex-citing possibilities and sometimes a little anxiety. When Melissa arrived at the Win-nifred Stewart Association in 2001, she was fresh out of high school and ready to face the "real" world, but she was over-whelmed by the options and the respon-

sibilities that came with them.

However, she had a dream. Melissa wished for a job and a place of her own; she wished for her own "independence". She started out trying many different things and while vol-unteering at a local daycare, she discovered that she truly enjoyed working with children, so she decided to pursue this career field further. After completing her Level One certificate in childcare, Melissa became a full-time daycare employee. Now she just needed a place.

In July 2007, her dream came true. She moved into her very own apartment at Joey's Home. Looking back, she is thrilled that she has been able to accomplish so much on her own.

She states, "Living in my own place is really good. I make my own meals. I walk to the bank on my own, and if I need a hand, I can call my family and friends to help out". With her dreams fulfilled, Melissa is already planning her next move. "I might buy my own place later on. It's definitely a stepping stone for me". Thanks to support from her loved ones, Melissa continues her journey towards freedom and in-dependence knowing that anything is possible, as long as

you have a dream. melissas-story

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Kim Shares His Gifts

When Kim arrived in Canada in 1982 he was faced with an overwhelming change of culture. His strong spirit and positive attitude helped him to adjust to significant obstacles and to become a contributing member of his new community.

Kim is a talented artist. Through his in-volvement at the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts, he has sold several of his illustrations, including one to the Gachet Gallery in Vancouver. Kim's involvement at the Association has given him a chance to give back to his community. Twice a week, he volunteers at the Edmon-ton Chinatown Care Centre helping the kitchen staff to prepare for meals and to clean up afterwards. "We really appreciate Kim's help at the centre," says his employer, Kin. "Whenever I ask him if he is enjoying work, he just smiles. He is very proud to be here."

In his free time, Kim creates music compilations for friends at the centre. He has a great love for music, and sings Karaoke with his sister at the Chinatown Care Centre.

Kim's first language is Cantonese and, although communication can sometimes be a challenge, he is supported to find a means of sharing his culture with people at WSA. During the Chinese New Year, he introduced his circle of friends to the cuisine and traditions of the occasion in Chinatown.

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Marsha Saxton’s story

As a disability advocate and educator, I have repeatedly heard the incomprehensible stories of disabled people de-scribing severe abuse and mistreatment. I witnessed mis-treatment by medical staff, of other patients, disabled chil-dren more vulnerable than I, in the hospital where I was receiving corrective surgery. I grew up understanding that abuse happens to people with disabilities. But it doesn’t have to. Abuse can be stopped.

A while back, I was among the first with a disability to be admitted to a unique self-defense class for women. “Model Mugging” taught women to defend themselves using physi-cal techniques to repel a mugger or rapist. The program had begun a few years before, designed for able-bodied women. But with increased experience, the instructors realized the techniques could be effective for women with some degree of physical limitation. As a woman with a moderate degree of weakness in my legs from spina bifida, the techniques were readily applicable to me. There was also a blind woman in the class.

The instructors coached us as we practiced the defensive techniques on “muggers,” guys suited up in substantial full-body padding, including hockey-like masks and groin protec-tion, so we could practice our defenses full-out without hurt-ing them. We learned to meet a would-be attacker who might grab our arm or purse strap, with our elbow slamming around to his head. We practiced the shocking skill of step-ping up to knee him hard in the groin, slam an open palm to his nose, and poke him in the eye. We learned that women who shuffle or limp (like me!) were preferred targets. >

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But we could communicate confidence walking on the street in our posture, showing an attitude of, “Don’t mess with me.” We learned safety planning and common sense pre-cautions. We also learned to use our voices as our first line of defense. We were told that, sadly, many women when attacked are silent from years of conditioned passivity in the face of difficulty. We learned to shout, “NO!” in unison, a kind of chant to self-defense.

Just Like a Regular Person — Ronda Laman

Born prematurely I had problems with my vision, I couldn’t walk, and I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. My parents left me alone most of the time, taking my three sisters with them. When we moved from Idaho to Texas, they kept me inside all the time because they were embarrassed to be seen with me: a blind, disabled girl. My parents left me in the bedroom with the television on, and some cookies or cheese on a red plate and a Coke next to me; I couldn’t go on the bus with them because I was “too heavy.” No one outside of my family knew that I lived there until my sister’s friend told her mother, who then called the police. The police came over to our house to get me. My father was arrested for abusing me and not taking me to school. I can remember him saying, “She couldn’t ever read, so what is the use sending her to school?” My mother was not arrested because she didn’t agree with how my father treated me. My father did not go to prison, but I wish he had. >

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P A G E 6

I went to live in a group home for the disabled when I was fifteen. That was the first time I had a friend besides my big sister. My friend was Lacie Jill – what a nice name. We had a lot of laughs together. We were roommates with four other girls, all of whom were disabled. It was a shock for me to live there in the beginning because, un-like the other residents my age, I didn’t know how to use a wheelchair. Lacie had another kind of disability in her spine and was in a wheelchair like me. She moved away, but we talk on the phone sometimes and send Christmas cards.

It took me a long time to believe that it is not my fault I was born premature and couldn’t see or walk. I was lucky to meet people with many kinds of disabilities and to talk with them over the years. We took classes and went to the movies and had many great talks to help us move past our abuse and shame. Our house-mom told us that no one deserves to be left out of the main stream of life, especially disabled people; I couldn’t help but think of wheelchairs in boats! But seriously, I remember thinking that I’m just like a regular person, except I use a wheel-chair and have someone read my books to me. I have all the feelings and thoughts that anyone else has. My fa-ther’s mean way did not keep me from living my life.

Disclaimer: The content of the articles used in this newsletter are not a representation of the views and opinion of the Diversity and Disability program nor of the Migrant Resource Centre North West Region Inc. Where information use which is not the property of the Diversity and Disability program; articles are referenced in order to demonstrate that the program does not claim that such information is property of the Diversity and Disability program.

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