WA NDIS My Way personal story: Lincoln Smith
Speakers
Janice Taylor, grandmother
Valerie Mansfield, My Way Coordinator
John Thomson, My Way Regional Director
Transcript
Valerie: Lincoln is a young lad that lives in Margaret River with his grandmother
Janice and his two brothers.
Janice: My name is Janice Taylor and I take care of my grandson Lincoln Smith,
who’s autistic, non-verbal, doesn’t speak and very hard sometimes to look after, but
yes we manage. Having the My Way plan has made all of our lives a lot easier and
my plan is just to try and give Lincoln the most stable life that we can give him.
Valerie: Lincoln is very charismatic, he is a gorgeous looking little boy. Everyone is
drawn to him. He really loves his family and his family really love him. I think he has
become very much a part of his school community and now that he is getting older
he is starting to broaden his network and he is very welcomed at different activities in
the community. He travels now on the bus to Busselton to go to school. Janice, as a
grandmother having been the primary carer, she is very proud and she is a great
organiser and she pretty much tried to carry all of the care on her own, with only little
bits of support here and there. She is very good at meeting the little boy’s needs and
being able to know what Lincoln needs even though he’s non-verbal. And never
really asked for a lot of support but, over time, she became aware – and I was
becoming aware too – that to sustain her in that care giver’s role that she would
need some extra support. So that is where we started the plan from.
Janice: We had a meeting and we sat down and made a plan, and it was explained
to me what I could use My Way for. It took us about an hour, an hour and half. It was
more about what I needed for us, for me and Lincoln, in our family to make things
work.
John: I think we have a very strong working relationship with the non-government
sector in the Lower South West. We have given each other plenty of feedback
around how My Way has being implemented; and what has been working and what
hasn’t been working. I think what we are seeing are the benefits of that, in agencies
being a lot more flexible and the ability for us to implement strategies now a lot more
creatively and flexibly for individuals and families.
Valerie: My Way is a good planning tool that gives people an opportunity to have a
think about where they’re going and how they want to get there. So Janice and I
were able to look at the plan and spend time identifying strategies that would meet
her goals for Lincoln and also how we would sustain her pretty heavy carer’s load as
well, in the longer term.
Janice: We usually meet here in Margaret River, maybe once a month or so, unless I
need her before that.
Valerie: Like any little boy, Lincoln’s goals are to have a good time and enjoy life and
be a bit on the computer and playing with his brothers. Janice wants the best for him,
and for him to be healthy and to eat well and to be safe is a big thing for Janice. And
for him to enjoy his education, and have time with his brothers and also start to have
a bit of time with other friends and other kids his age.
Janice: It’s making it better because I’ve got more opportunities out there. I’ve got
more choices that I am able to have now than what I did before. It has given us more
of a stable and normal life. My Way is making things a lot easier for me and my
family, for the boys.