More than 4 million Australians live with a disability.
Almost 80 per cent of these live with a physical condition that requires full time care from another person, often a parent, family member or paid professional.
One of the most worrying issues for carers is what might happen to the person with a disability once the carer can no longer look after them.
A workshop, which was held at the Armidale City Bowling Club on Wednesday, saw families, carers and volunteers come together to address this issue.
Armidale resident Vicki Logan is a full-time carer for her daughter Evie Logan-Clarke who lives with a disability and said the workshop successfully addressed ways in which a stable future can be established for everyone.
“Today was about developing a vision for a person with a disability,” Ms Logan said.
“The biggest thing I got out of today was how to translate that vision into a practical day-to-day plan for a person with a disability.
“Encompassing their own interests and practical outcomes for giving them a good life.
“Each person with a disability has their own interests and values in life and how to translate those into practical outcomes for that person… creating connections with other people and with the community that are based on the interests of that person.
“How to keep that vision at the forefront of everything that you do and how to communicate that to everyone around the person with a disability so that they’re all on the same page.”
Ms Logan said she felt lucky that her daughter Evie was able to have a network of her own.
“Evie has an informal support network only because we’ve had a vision for Evie from before she started school,” she said.
“Part of the action was to have her enrolled in inclusive education, just in regular mainstream classes.
“That’s created a huge network of people within Armidale who know Evie.”
