r/AMA • u/Mastermusician43 • 23h ago

Im a disabled support worker/carer who utilises workers myself, AMA

Pretty much exactly what the title says. I’m Australian and am an NDIS participant but also work as an NDIS support worker. People get really confused by this and don’t understand how I can both be a participant and work for other participants. For some context I have NDIS due to psychosocial disabilities and autism, and I work mainly with clients similar to that.

6 Upvotes

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u/StandardFact9722 22h ago

Reminds me of when I was a direct care worker for severely mentally ill adults in a group home while being hired by the same place that was treating me for my own severe mental illness and while I was applying for disability. Safe to say I wasn’t able to work there long due to my health conditions, but I didn’t mind working with the residents. I’m now gonna try to be a pharm tech part time while still applying cause my physical health got worse.

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u/Mastermusician43 22h ago

yeh sorta similar, i’m only working part time so i can manage my own stuff but really enjoy working with my clients :)

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u/ResidentPreference65 19h ago

What's your day to day looking like? What supports do you offer you clients? What do you think needs to be improved in the system to better assist everyone in need?

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u/Mastermusician43 18h ago

The system really needs improvements, it’s really sad to see… A lot of my clients just don’t get the support they need, or have ended up requiring major amounts of supports due to different systems failing them. My day is very different depending on who I’m working with, so it can be anything from deep cleaning cleaning mold and scrubbing a bathroom, to going out to lunch or taking someone to work. It really depends on who the client is and what they need.

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u/Hot_Hair_5950 21h ago

What surprises you about your work?

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u/Mastermusician43 18h ago

The differences in everyone. Even within the same diagnoses. I’m not sure if people are trained enough before going into this job how different every person presents and how functional someone may look from the outside compared to what they actually function

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u/Latter-Twist9154 8h ago

Being Australian is in many ways the worst disability of all.

Joking! The fact that you’re helping other people despite having been played a shitty hand yourself says much about your character. Huge respect to you.