News

Ground-breaking move for Dan

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:08:00

Pam Carter is riding the emotional roller-coaster that only parents of children leaving home can know.

The excitement of a son or daughter finally testing their wings in the world, the pride of a job well done – but the fear of the risks that, from now on, are out of the parental control.
For Pam, though, preparing for her 24 year old son Dan to move out has a complexity other families can only imagine.
Dan was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, but will achieve one of his life’s ambitions when he moves into his own townhouse, as part of a ground-breaking project by the Mildura disability provider Sunraysia Residential Services Inc.
“It’s the first instance I know of where a person with a disability has managed to qualify for a first-home buyers’ grant,” says SRS chief executive Marian Luehman.
“It’s a really exciting step forward – it’s fabulous for Dan, but it’s also a meaningful sign that society really is starting to view people with disabilities as having the same rights as everyone else.”
The $1.2 million project was devised after SRS had approaches from families unable to find a housing model that was appropriate in design and location.
Pam Carter was one of those parents, and says it’s a relief there’s now a solution that finds a balance for clients such as Dan.
“Dan first told us he wanted to move out into his own place when he was 15, and he was very clear about it,” Pam Carter laughs.
“There was never any doubt in his mind – he was moving out at some point, but the reality was that he couldn’t do that until we felt he would be safe."
*For this story in full, get a copy of the Summer 2012 Mildura Living Magazine