I studied for seven years to achieve a Bachelor of Education degree with a specialisation in both Educating Students with Special Needs and Information Technology. My aim was to find a way to use my skills and abilities to combine the two - using information technology to enrich the life of children with special needs.Unfortunately my health got in the way of my ability to work on a day to day level and so I retired from teaching because I just couldn't cope physically within the school environment. Standing in one spot, being on your feet for hours and then not being able to walk the next day. My fibromyalgia progressed to the stage where I didn't know if I would wake up in the morning and go to work. Each day was different and triggers of stress or weather were big factors. Being a casual teacher there is a day-to-day wait and hope and see approach to whether you work that day. Then I moved to Tasmania in December 2000.
If you move you are taken off the Board of Studies list and it takes a long time to start getting calls again. My health had suffered from the cold Tasmanian winters where I spent 2/3rs of the year sick with a cold or flu of some kind or other. I designed websites from home, using a collaborative group project The Crab Street Journal to showcase what I had learned in my B.Ed degree. I was teaching people from around the world of varying levels of ability how to create and publish content and create a multimedia resource which is still around today. It was my way of putting ideas into practice, teaching a wide range of skills to facilitate the publishing of an online magazine. I was a virtual teacher and learned not just from my own trial and error but those of my students. In December 2002 I moved back to Wollongong, NSW and whilst it was rewarding being the webmaster and editor it was a very demanding project which I have now delegated and moved on from.
In March 2003 I started a Masters of Education (Information Technology) degree but took a leave of absence six months into the course due to hospitalisation. Whilst I recovered I picked up a camera and went for a walk and re-discovered my love of photography. So much had changed in two years and it was like I was seeing the city anew. Since then I have been spending the majority of my time creating websites for local businesses but donate a lot of my time updating blogs featuring illawarra food, tourism and local organisations. I have found a way to provide services and share skills that I have developed whilst sitting at a computer, working at my own pace navigating around my physical limitations.
Most of the projects I work on do not generate any income but I enjoy and believe in them. As long as I have enough money to keep a roof over my head, food in my belly, cover my health expenses, enjoy a working computer and electricity to run it, a decent access to the internet - then I'm more than happy :)
So what is the NDIS?
Every Australian Counts is the campaign for the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme. The NDIS will revolutionise the way people with a disability, their families and carers are supported in this country. The NDIS will be a new support system for people with a disability, their families and carers. It will transform the way services are funded and delivered, ensuring people are better supported and enabling them to have greater choice and control. Over the next few months the Productivity Commission will report to the Government on the findings of its inquiry into a long-term disability care and support scheme.
We need every Australian to stand up and say that people with a disability, their families and carers in this country deserve better and that it’s time for change. We need every Australian to say that people with a disability, their families and carers are Australians too, and that their hopes and dreams count. That they are part of our community, and that they count.
