Helping a Person with Disability
I was fortunate enough to meet Wayne Hawkins, and his assistance dog Harrison, at the NDIS New World Conference in Brisbane last month. A member of staff had assisted him to the bench and he sat next to me whilst we waited to go to the conference dinner. It was natural for us to strike up a conversation. Plus I wanted to learn more about them both and how Harrison assists Wayne.
Wayne works for the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network. This is Australia’s peak communications consumer organisation which advocates on behalf of all consumers. Wayne was in Brisbane to talk about the importance of accessible Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The link to his presentation is below:
http://www.accan.org.au/news-items/hot-issues/1124-why-is-accessible-ict-important
It was time for us to go inside the room to find a seat for the conference dinner. I remember reading an article about not assuming that a person with disability needs or wants help. It advised against doing things for them without asking.
So I asked Wayne if he would like some help to find a seat and if he would like to sit next to me. When we entered the room I was overwhelmed by how many people were already sitting down. It was as if was there another door that people had been going into which I had not seen. There were hardly any free seats left. I was a little disappointed since both Wayne and I had been told we could not enter until 6 pm.
I therefore suggested that Wayne and Harrison wait where they were for the moment, and I would find us a place to sit. Even I found the room crowded as I was navigating around people standing near tables. Suddenly I was looking at things from a different perspective. Eventually I found some seats that I felt were appropriate and meant that Wayne was not likely to be bumped by someone else getting up and down from their seat.
I went back to Wayne and Harrison and guided them to our table. Luckily I had asked the person already seated to save our seats as someone else had wanted them in the time that it took us to return. Wayne sat down and Harrison lay down under the table. We didn’t see him for quite some time.
A little later Harrison wandered around to each of us and would pop his head up as if today hello. He was so well behaved. Harrison retires this week after many years of loyal service. Wayne and I talked about what happens to Harrison now.
Harrison is lucky enough to be going to a family for his retirement. This made me think about what happens with Wayne’s next assistance dog? He has a day without Harrison before his new dog comes, but then there is a two week training program where Wayne and his new dog to get to know each other. They will spend a lot of that time walking the routes that Wayne does most frequently, so his new dog can become familiar with them.
Back to the dinner and I offered to pour Wayne a drink. The entree’s were already at the table. There was a lazy Susan on the middle of the table. When it was time for the main course everything was put in the middle on the lazy Susan. I had to stand up to be able to reach any of the bowls and plates. At least I was able to stand up; it would have been very difficult for those in wheelchairs to be able to reach the dishes.
I served Wayne first – I had already read the menu to him and now I needed to ask what he wanted. I can’t imagine eating food that I couldn’t see. The last time I remember doing so was at a party at primary school where we were blindfolded and had to guess what foods were being placed in our mouths. I wasn’t very good at that game!
Then the music became very loud and I decided it was time to go back to my accommodation. Wayne asked me if he could leave the dinner at the same time. I asked Wayne if he would prefer the lift or escalators. We went down three sets of escalators together. Unfortunately I took Wayne down the wrong set of escalators. The least I could do was to get him to a point he was familiar with. The Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre is huge and we walked around it together and once he knew where he was he left.
I met Wayne and Harrison the next day near a set of steps when one of the sessions ended and asked if he would like some help. At times there were five concurrent sessions during the conference and Wayne wasn’t sure how to get to the area where the coffee was. It was my pleasure to accompany him to afternoon tea.
It was an interesting way to serve food to a group of people where a substantial percentage of them had a disability because, in my opinion, many of them would have required help to access the food. It made me consider things from a different perspective and I think this is useful for us all to do from time to time.