GRAYDEN: 

Hi there, it’s Grayden again. Once you have figured out where you can go to find supports, it is important to choose people that are a good fit for you. They need to have the right knowledge and skills to help you move. It will be a bit of an effort to build up your team, but you need to remember that you will be working with these people for quite some time and in quite personal ways. They’ll need to get to know a lot about you to support you well. Samar and Michael tell us about who played a part in helping them move and why they were important.

SAMAR: 

My Support Coordinator is a big part of my support. They helped me get onto the NDIS, get SDA, organise my move and build a good support worker team. I have an OT too. They came out to the apartment that I was moving into and had a look at everything. They made sure things were at the right height and in the right place, and making sure I had the right equipment. I don’t need to wait on anything in regards to the move. We’re all ready to move, because we’ve got all the equipment organised. If you haven’t moved before, you don’t know what you don’t know. So you need people who really understand the moving process. 

MICHAEL: 

I think they say moving house is one of the hardest things to do in your life. And I think it's true, especially if you're leaving residential aged care. Because of this, I think it's really important to have a good support network that can help you to do this. By asking their advice, but also perhaps speaking to other people with disabilities that have transitioned from aged care back into the community, so you know what the options are, and perhaps what you might want to do in the future. I found leaving aged care was really difficult because I realised that I was actually institutionalised because you've been in a place where people have been doing a lot of things for you, and it's very regimented, moving back into the community can be a little bit tricky. The good news is there are people out there that can help you do this. People like neuropsychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, even support coordinators can really help you to do this. I had some awesome support people. They were really good. For me, when I started to actually get closer to the date of leaving aged care, I became quite stressed. Having good support was awesome. Just things like where to put stuff in what boxes and how to put the boxes where and how to label them. They were awesome. They were just like stick the stuff in the box. So let's go. Let's go.

GRAYDEN: 

The people that make up a good support team will be able to help you with different things you might need. Your needs may not be the obvious ones, like eating, showering, cleaning etc. You will also need help knowing what you need for your new home and what to work on to build up skills. Your support team will have the knowledge to support you through this. People with disabilities can be a good source of advice too. You can form groups with them to share thoughts, or to help advocate for each other and others in similar situations. Because we know things don’t always go smoothly, understanding your rights is important. Sometimes having someone, like an advocate, who’s in your corner to do this can help. There are some links in the resource to help you better understand your rights and how to find an advocate if you need one. You can also have a look at other people’s stories and experiences in the blog section.

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