About this Short Film
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Film Details
Film Transcript
In 2007 the service decided to completely transform. That's when we met Brian Littman and Wintringham. Institutions everywhere around the western world were being decentralised and we realised we needed to do the same thing. So the hostel was going to be moved out to houses and day services were going to be dispersed.
As we got to know the Wintringham service model we realised together that there was a chance to do something that really hadn't been done before in Australia, and that was to create a combined model where a parent who is unable to care for their adult son or daughter with a disability can co-locate the parent with Wintringham and the child with Walara. Also, for Walara's residents who needed to move into aged care to be looked after by someone.
I was hearing the stories about elderly people who were caring for the child, and this continues to grow eventually where the parent is about 80 years old and they've got a disabled child who can't care for themselves. If the parent gets to an aged care facility the child goes to a disability service, maybe the other end of town, and they hardly see each other.
Eventually a couple approached us — Annie and Sonia. Mum was about 82 and the daughter, Annie, was around in her 40s when they first arrived. There was about 50 metres difference between where mum lived and where the daughter was living, and sharing a house, and they were very nervous. We said, look, you can eat together in Wintringham or you can eat together here — it's all flexible. But very quickly, I'd see Annie walking around and I'd say, how's your mum going? And Annie would say, I've been too busy to see Mum; I'll keep busy. She was quite physically able and looking after Anne‑Marie, but as the Alzheimer's started to kick in Anne‑Marie was actually the carer for Mum.
The number one concern for a parent with a child who has a disability would be when the parent becomes too old to physically care for their child. That's where this place comes in, and we're able to care for both the child and the parents and they can both maintain individual lives.
He's really come out of her shell since living here and she's really gained some independence rather than having to answer to Mum like she has for the last 40 years. Now she can make decisions and then she goes and tells him, this is what I've done, this is what I'm doing, and he's really enjoying that. She's really blossoming.
I do got borrowing on — shout out to that with Mary, and I got two of them. I'm a younger point, not painting. Sam is good; she doesn't make me out of it.
One of the great things about the site, of course, is that it helps keep families together, and that's a pretty special thing because it's pretty traumatic when those families are torn apart. You can have a parent and a child now living side by side, something that really hadn't been done before in Australia. It's one of the most exciting things I've ever done. I'd do it again and a half, you.
Filmmaker
Wallara is the filmmaker behind this entry. See every Focus on Ability entry from Wallara.
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