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Video transcript

Bruce (father of 4 children, 1 with disability): We sort of plan... plan things, you know, as a family. We make a point of trying to do everything we can, you know as a family, together, but we also have to make some sort of adjustment to our lifestyle.

Sibling: When you go places, you have to sort of keep in mind, um... like... whether you can get there with him and stuff, and yeah, you have to kind of keep that in mind.

Ethna (mother of 2 children, 1 with disability): Family outings are very, very challenging. Your child with a disability needs to stay in their routine. And your other children don’t want that routine. They want spontaneity in their life.

Lorraine (mother of 6 children, 1 with disability): We love camping, going away on... going away on camping holidays. We do a lot of that. That’s been one of our really enjoyable times, and one thing that we talk about a lot, you know, ‘Remember when we were here, remember when we were there...’

Anne-Marie (mother of 3 children, 1 with disability): We... tend to try and organise holidays where we go away with other families, if we can, because then there’s always someone who doesn’t want to go to the beach, or wants to stay back and read a book or whatever, so then we can try and take advantage, or in the past we’ve tried to take advantage of that.

Narelle (mother of 3 children, 1 with disability): A few of the beaches now have put in this liberty swing, you’ve just got to get a special key cut at certain locksmiths, and you are the owner of that key, and then it fits the connections to get the child in the wheelchair, and then you get them onto this swing.

Tam (mother of a child with disability): Watching the different things she can do, and things she’s achieved, and just watching her in general. I can sit and just watch her, she amazes me sometimes.

Katrina (mother of 4 children, 1 with disability): She participates in everything the other kids do, you know, whether as a spectator, or whether she’s actively involved.

Anne-Marie: The thing that we do as a family, that Ella really likes to do, is to go for a walk, you know, walk to the shops or to the beach, or just to get a coffee or whatever, and sit and watch the ocean down there. And that’s something that she enjoys doing, and the boys enjoy doing, and that’s something we all do together. I think, um... as she gets older it is becoming more difficult to do things together as a family, so that’s where we look into um... respite services to look after Ella. So she stays at home, with someone caring for her, whilst we go out and do things with the boys.

Katrina: It does take a bit of extra time getting Hannah organised, and getting into the car, and if we’ve got to go somewhere, you’ve got to make sure you can get a wheelchair in wherever we’re going, but... it’s just, she’s just one of the kids. It’s the simple things in life that are really fantastic, you know, family dinners, all the... going to the park and playing in the playground, and just watching the kids be kids. That’s the best time of all.

Supported By

  • Department of Social Services

Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

Member Organisations

  • Parenting Research Centre
  • The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne
  • Murdoch Children's Research Institute

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