I know many of you already know what 'The Dream' is, and over the next couple of weeks, we can finally spill (most of) the beans. A quick recap for those who have forgotten: The Dream is basically an idea that has evolved over time as a solution to when Ryley finishes school. My worry has always been that as soon as he turns 18 years old he will have nothing to do. Sure, we have 2 options here. One is a day program type environment. The other is like a sheltered workshop type environment. Neither of which I feel will necessarily suit Ryley. Of course things may change in 8 years time. But for us, we really felt we needed to create a future for Ryley, instead of just waiting to see what he might be able to do. I actually have very little faith in the system at the moment too. I have been discouraged recently at the way I have seen supposed carers treat the people they are caring for (eg. Not changing someone's nappy for the whole day is just not friggin' on
Finally we can introduce 'Rybrae Farm' to our blog followers! (Can you figure out how we came up with the name??). Rybrae Farm is situated in a town called Amphitheatre, which is about 70 km from Ballarat. It is the town that David grew up in and the town where my parents bought a holiday house some 20 years ago. It is the town David and I met as kids and then fell in love some years later. It is where our hearts are. The farm features a 5 bedroom home that is run by solar and wind power and we also have some appliances that use gas (and some lights!). We have approximately 135 acres with 6 dams. There is a lot of bush areas, with some cleared areas too. Braeden exploring the front garden We have so much work to do! But can't wait to get stuck in. For those who are wondering, we won't be living out there. We will be staying in town. It doesn't make sense for us to move given that we both work in town, Ryley is at school and Braede
I have logged back in to write today as we come to the end of lockdown 3.0. I just saw in my unpublished posts my thoughts about lockdown 1.0. Hmmm. I might publish that one day! Today's topic feels like something I have written about before. Over the past few weeks, Ryley has been undergoing assessments. These assessments are necessary in order for us to receive adequate funding under the NDIS. Long story short, Ryley's last NDIS plan has failed to provide the funding he needs in order to participate fully in the things we had planned for his transition out of school. The whole process has felt a bit messy. It started with me not being listened to. This is despite my strong, knowledgeable-of-systems-and guidelines voice. No blaming or shaming here. It just is as it is. However, for those that know me well, know that when you try and 'quieten' my voice, I will only speak louder. Especially when it comes to advocating and speaking for those that can't. As expec
Happy Birthday Braeden!
ReplyDeleteLove the first photo - what a cutie!
ReplyDeleteHappy 2nd Birthday to Braeden ! Great photos of your gorgeous boys too !
ReplyDeleteCaroline