Living with Disability Research Centre Seminar

Engaging people with neurological disability: quality support and co-design

This seminar draws on the work of researchers from the Summer Foundation, a key partner of the Living with Disability Research Centre. PhD candidate Megan Topping presents a model of support for people with neurological disability based on her studies with people with disability, support workers and close others. Dr Kate D’Cruz reports on the design, implementation and evaluation of a co-design project aimed to empower people with disability living in aged care to make decisions about housing options.

Emeritus Professor Jacinta Douglas will host the seminar.

“You’re supporting the whole person”: model of quality support grounded in the experience of adults with neurological disability, disability support workers and close others.

Megan Topping, Doctoral Researcher, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University and Summer Foundation

This presentation will focus on the development of a holistic model of quality disability support grounded in the lived experience of adults with acquired neurological disability, disability support workers and close others of people with disability. The findings of studies involving in-depth interviews with 34 participants (12 adults with acquired neurological disability, 12 support workers and 10 close others) will be presented and discussed. The holistic model of quality support, combining the findings of the three studies depicts a multi-level system with factors in the dyadic space between the person with disability and support worker, the support team level and broader sector and system levels. Most critically, and in line with rights legislation, people with disability need to have autonomy over their supports and be seen as the expert in their support needs. These findings advance our learnings to improve the quality of support for people with disability and important policy and practice implications are highlighted.

Strengthening opportunities for people with neurological disability to live independently: a co-design project.

Dr Kate D’Cruz, Senior Research Fellow and Research Team Manager (Summer Foundation) andAdjunct Research Fellow (La Trobe University)

Kate D’Cruz will present the findings of a co-design project and research evaluation conducted by the Summer Foundation. The aim of the project was to create a series of tools to build the capacity of people with disability living in residential aged care to make informed decisions about housing options. Eight people with neurological disability partnered with three facilitators to design and develop nine tools, including a podcast series, a video series, and support resources.  Kate will share insights into the steps undertaken in the design and implementation of the co-design project, as well as findings from analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with participants pre-and post-co-design participation. Pre-participation themes included 1: Embracing the opportunity; 2: Juggling hopes and fears; and 3: Is this co-design? Post-participation themes covered 1: Making sense of co-design; 2: Being employed and contributing to society; and 3: Creating meaningful tools.