Great Experience at Jewish Care’s Disability Services

Here is a thank you message from Adrianne which was recently posted on our Facebook page –

“Thanks to Kids Giving Back for introducing our family to Jewish Care’s Disability Services programme.

Yesterday we took our 9 year old twins to a share-house in Mascot, where a group of people with intellectual disability live and are supported by Jewish Care volunteers.

This was particularly meaningful for me as I sit on the Board of the Australian Network on Disability. Whilst I have insight into the issues and complexity for people with a disability at an industry level, it’s important to take this insight to a personal level.

We took part in a Sunday BBQ and brought along some food and dessert. Our family was introduced to the housemates and, with minimal fuss, the ice broke rather quickly. It was great to see how easily my kids made a connection with our hosts and responded to their open and frank communication style. I was so proud of how respectful and humble my daughters were.

The highlight was a piano recital, where one of the housemates and my twins took turns to play different pieces of music.

I would totally recommend this experience to any family with young children. We need to understand the diversity that exists within our community, and embrace people with disabilities so that we become – as we say at the AND – a ‘disability confident’ society. “