Support Workers

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Last edited by Ante on 09 Nov 2005, 5:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

When I was in HS I had a notetaker in my freshman and sophmore years.

I hated it. They were more popular than I was in the classroom, and things came to a head one day when someone asked me (privately, thank god) if she was my mother.

I talked to my parents about it and finally got rid of her. (two different ones)

I worked as a support worker in mental health, my current job has aspects of it as well. It's a pretty odd thing, you're right. I've often wondered how I would take to it if I was in a position where I had a support worker. Not too well I suspect. There's definitely a power/status thing that can happen and I would think it's pretty unpleasant to be out in public in that situation, equally not in public come to that.

On the other hand you have to be realistic and accept that some people really benefit from it. Tricky one really, specially when it comes to doing stuff like support plans, risk assessments etc that kind of stuff can be really intrusive and demeaning.

I've had several support workers since the age of 19... so for 4 years now. I love my latest caseworker and really enjoy spending time with her.

But I am graduating from the program in August and will not be seeing her any longer.

sigh

The support workers I'm most familiar with these days help me out in my home with whatever I need help with. For instance they cook, clean, do laundry, make sure I take my medications, help me shower, and so forth, and can also take me out somewhere.

I used to be in a number of different programs where they basically took you out alone or in groups so-called "into the community" (I hate that phrase, as if most people would call taking a walk or going to the grocery store or whatever "going out into the community") and so forth to socialize you, but that was really fairly condescending in nature compared to what I get now. What I get now is based on what I know I need assistance with, not on what some program has decided is "for my own good". At the time some of those things were a welcome escape from various other things, but these days I would have trouble standing it.

I used to do that when I worked with SL Start. I became disillusioned though, much of the paperwork seemed very meaningless and a lot of the other workers basically killed time instead of really "being there" for their clients.

I used to have 'carers' who were organised through and subsidised by the local council. My mum organised it ever since I was diagnosed with AS at age 10. Originally she mainly got them to come and cook dinner and keep me (and my sister) occupied while she went out. Though I was suspended from school a few times so they started taking me out for trips on public transport. I used to get out my Melways and plan up all these trips all around Melbourne. For example one day I might have decided to go into the city, so while sometimes I might have chosen to take the train, at other times I'd take a tram from somewhere. The other thing I liked to do was to take a train to the end of our train line[s] (it branches off into two lines) then take a bus through the hills to the other line and home again by train.

Once I stopped getting suspended so much, the same arrangements continued in school holidays. Though when I started secondary school, mum organised for someone to come and take me out every Saturday. It became a thing were practically all the trips were to the city because when I was 12 or 13, I found that I really liked the city/inner Melbourne. At times I resisted it, because it did make me feel abnormal (this was less of a problem when I had a good level of rapport with the person). Though I never really ran into many people I knew. Also it did sometimes make it more difficult to plan things with proper friends because the council/agency needed to know days in advance.

I had some interesting people as well. When I was 10/11 I put in a preference for young females though this wasn't always possible. I just kind of liked their personalities. Though I also got this guy who was probably around 30, he'd lived in the USA for a few years and had a good sense of humour, so quite enjoyed it. I also had an 18 year old who was here on a working holiday from Wales. Then I had a 20 year old girl, same deal, but from Canada. I would go bike riding with her a lot and still keep in contact by email. Among them were a few more young people.

Eventually, when I was 15 or 16 we decided I didn't need them anymore because I had enough friends of my own (though by the time I was 17 or 18 I found I was back to where I was with no social life). The downside to the 'carers' is that a lot of the real nice people weren't in the job for long and moved on. Though the same can probably be said of 'proper' friends.

In addition, I did also have 0.6 funding for an integration aide, from Grade 4 then all the way through school until the end of Year 12. It didn't really worry me in primary school, except when they were told to follow me around in the play ground. I was rather upset that it was continuing into secondary school. I wanted to start secondary school like all the 'normal' people do. I never even would have envisioned that people would have aides in secondary school because you usually only saw them with intellectually disabled kids who don't get a normal secondary school education. Though luckily the aide must have had experience with this and handled the transition well. In the end, if it wasn't for that person, I may not have even made it through years 7-10. Though the down side is that other kids often view you as having something 'wrong' or they think you're intellectually challenged (when in my case I was probably smarter than most other kids). I also thought that it was a barrier to making friends.

The same dilemma occurred when I decided to go to a 'senior secondary' school to do my VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education, known as HSC or Higher School Certificate in other states; which encompasses year 11 and 12). I again didn't like the idea of having someone with me, so they got someone to just in in classes and take notes and work with me during spares. Well that person ended up not being all that useful for me really (she just didn't understand what kind of help I needed or anything like that) and I ended up relying on the help of the school's welfare co-ordinator to get me through.

Tertiary education is a different matter all together. There is support available but I haven't really worked out how to use it and well, haven't survived it so far.

Geez mate, that's a lot of stuff you got to handle! *hugs*

Half way through fourth grade, may parents and my teacher somehw got the idea that it would be good for me to have a notetaker in class (I was mainstream). I'm not sure whether I hated the idea or their personalities more. I went through three of them in a semester and the idea was abandoned for fifth grade.

I've never had that sort of thing, but I wouldn't mind someone who would make sandwiches and stuff for me when I can't be bothered getting up.

I've never had a support worker, but here are some tips that'll help you avoid being seen with one, should you be uncomfortable with it.

1) Take public transportation, rather than drive or be driven, whenever you can.
When you two are seen in a car, it's obvious that you were doing something together. That'll
raise a lot of questions. When you two are seen together on a bus/train/light rail/ferry/subway,
it's a lot lot easier to get out of a sticky situation. You can say it's someone from your mom's or
dad's work, and that person once helped you with schoolwork.

2) Go to places outside your neighborhood, the farther the better; at the very least, it has to be a
place where people you know don't hang out.
I don't think this one needs a detailed explanation.

3) Ask the support worker to do dress in business clothes.
Although it may seem awkward for you, it's still helpful. This way, you can say the worker was
giving you a sales demo, or that he/she was a college or army recruiter. In the end, it'll make
your white lies a lot more believable.

4) Stick to highly crowded places, if you're comfortable with them.
Crowded places, like the downtown areas of cities/towns, let you blend in. Also, most people
simply don't care who you're with, whenever there's a large crowd. Additionally, with many
people covering you (literally), you won't be seen with the worker.

These tips, while not perfect, should be effective enough to help. Best of luck to all.

I've got 2 support workers at present. One is from the employment agency and I see her every fortnight for lunch and a chat. She's new as my other worker had to transfer to another city. She's very nice and just a few years older than me.

The other lady is 21 and she takes me to gem club once a week. That was part of inclusion works where people with a disability are integrated into the community by joining a club/volunteer work and the idea is they gradually withdraw contact until you can manage on your own. I think it is a good idea.

I wish I could have had support workers when I was at Uni and now there is talk they are going to bring in some sort of programme like that in the city where I live.

I tend to run into more people I know in the city than in my local neighbourhood. But then there are certain shopping centres, etc where I tend to see quite a number of people school. I often run into friends when using public transport too, though I consider that a good thing usually (i.e. when I'm alone and bored).

I did often feel uncomfortable about having these people around me, but pretending you don't know them is only going to make things worse. Pretending they are a friend of some description is probably going to work best, unless they are way way older than you.

I've got a CPN (Community Psychiatric Nurse) that comes round about once a month to check that I haven't gone crazy or anything. I find he's pretty arsing useless, has no understanding of asperger's and keeps telling me how I'd feel better if I went out and socialised more.

I prefer young females too. Males put me on-edge and make me confrontational, whereas I can relax more with females (though older ones can put me on-edge too). They also smell better, look pretty etc.

I also see a CPN every 2 - 3 weeks. She also does not understand AS but is a nice person and unlike some other people does not ignore that I have AS. She does not come round as much now as I am more stable because I was put on Prozac.

Recently I was diagnosed with AS so some one who works with people with AS will take me into town when I am ready to help me learn to interact better with NT's and help me with anxiety. I am not embarrassed to be seen in public with support workers.

Same here, most of the time I enjoy their company, but I never think of them as friends because I can never tell if they like talking to me or not.

I prefer females but not so young as I don’t get on too well with people my own age, they are too loud and nothing in common.

I fear that the State agency that is funding my schooling will try to give me a "job coach". OVER MY DEAD BODY! I will be trying to enter into a professional envirnment and cannot afford to have that kind of baggage.