The age-old question “What do you do?” gets thrown around a lot in most social settings, especially when people are meeting for the first time. As with the other bloggers, I get asked this question regularly. After using my really brief “in a nut shell” statement - working for a not-for-profit organisation that supports people - many responses I get tend to make reference to how rewarding the work must be and how special I am for working with people who require support to live their life.  

Some people of course ask the question without really having an interest in my response, so my replies are varied. However, when someone shows a genuine interest, I will spend more time explaining what my role is really about.

There are so many different jobs within the human services sector, which range from providing direct support to people to specialist support services like speech therapy or occupational therapy. Then there are management and administration roles and everything in between. When I share my work roles and experiences with people I like to be able to break down some of the misconceptions or stereotypes they may hold.

I am an Operations Manager and oversee Self-Managed and Individualised Support Arrangements across New South Wales for the organisation I work with. I lead, support and work alongside a team of Facilitators who develop partnerships with people living with disability and their family members or support people. A facilitator acts as a kind of assistant to families, and assists people to self-manage or direct their own support as much as possible. A facilitator will provide guidance to a person and their family to recruit and employ their own support staff, complete administrative processes - around payroll for example - and provide resources and support to families whilst they work together to create a ‘good life’ for the person with a disability. While the facilitator plays an important role, they remain in the background while the individual and their family decide what times and what things they would like to do with the funding they receive.

After painting this picture it’s easier for me to explain that, while my role is rewarding, the rewards have little to do with the ins and outs of the role itself, and everything to do with being connected to and witnessing people with disability having maximum control over how their lives are lived. It is the stories I hear from people with disability who are living regular lives, having valued roles within their families, their workplaces, their social networks and their communities that keep me connected to this role and to this industry.

Does working in a role supporting people with disability and their families to create a good life for themselves make me a special person? Not at all. It has, however shaped the person I have become professionally and changed the way I believe paid services should be represented in people’s lives.