A home is… | Supported Living

Woman sitting at table Men in wedding gear Family relaxing in the park Men and women relaxing in park Woman on the telephone

A home is…

A place where relationships matter to me

where family and friends can come, and I share with people I care about

I choose who I live with, who visits and when they visit.

A place where I can have my own space and feel safe

I can fill it with things I am interested in and which are about my life

A place where I have control over what happens

I am a person not a client or a patient

I can make my own decisions or be supported to make my own decisions

I can eat what I want when I want

I have a say over who supports me, what they do, when they do it, and how

A place I choose to live in

I have privacy

I can move freely and easily around my home

My home looks like other homes in my area

My home is in my community

I can make changes to suit myself

It suits me now, but I may change it when I want to.

Adapted from Family Advocacy, 'Home is a place where…'

An idea of home may be different from person to person, but 'home' means something very different from just a place to live or a supported accommodation program.

'A place is just a place, but people around you make it a lot better.
I want to live with my kids and my parents as well.
People [have] got the sister, brother, cousins, mum's cousins,
dad's brother, sister all they got a big group of family so they meet
someone one time here or there. So they don't have a place for sadness.'

R Gruhn (2005). Everybody Needs a Home. Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW.

Some people want to live alone, others with a flat mate, others with a family. Some people may buy a house, others may rent a flat, some may live in public housing. Some people may need support to stay in their family home. Most people with disability and families from non-English speaking backgrounds who were interviewed for a 2005 report said they want to live at home with or close to family. They said family, being part of the community and being able to take part in cultural events were very important.
'Home' means a safe place where people belong and have other people in their social network.

What makes a home different from a 'bed' in a house…

A home is more than just a place to live. It's personal. A home is a place to belong, to share with friends and people you love, to have control over and to feel safe in. In NSW many people with disability live in places that do not feel safe or personal, where they have little control. They have a 'bed' in a house they had no choice about, and they may share with people they do not know or like.

Read more here and below about how a home is different from a bed in a house.

Read more

Queensland Disability Housing Coalition (2005). A home of my own: right, rhetoric or reality? Sheet 5B 'What Makes a Good Home?', p.14.

Gruhn R (2005). Everybody Needs a Home. People from a non-English speaking background with disability and their families living in communities - a research project about their concerns and hopes and their implications for public policy. Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW.

Kendrick, Michael (1993). "The Choice Between a Real Home and a Program," Progress, Vol. 2, Issue I, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Mental Retardation. Kendrick Consulting or the Family Advocacy Inclusion Collection File: 10368.

Wilson, Robert (1993). Home is where the heart is. TEC Newsletter Number 18. Family Advocacy Inclusion Collection File: 10155.

Uditsky, Bruce (1994). Home - one of the four cornerstones. Connections. Winter. 01/01/94. Family Advocacy Inclusion Collection File: 10604.

O'Brien, John (1994). Down stairs that are never your own. Mental Retardation, 32(1), 1-6. Family Advocacy Inclusion Collection File: File: 10497.

A Bed in a House is not a Home - Family Advocacy Inclusion Collection File: File: 10685.

Fratangelo, Pat. How Rules Push Away Friends.

Privacy | Disclaimer | Copyright | Sitemap

top