Sandra
Sandra, a 48-year-old Indigenous Australian woman, was born on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. She can’t remember how old she was when she began living in a residential institution in north Melbourne; nor when she moved to a residential service in Carrum Downs on the Mornington Peninsula. Friendly and outgoing, Sandra has an expansive smile for everyone she meets. She is also profoundly deaf and has an intellectual disability.
Every Thursday, Sandra attends a Community Kitchen program run by the Peninsula Health Koorie Health Team at the Nexus Community Respite and Disability Services site. The program enables members to socialise and participate in various cultural and health activities, and to access other community services organisations that can provide support and information to the local Koorie community.
It was Nexus that linked Sandra to the Community Kitchen program, and which provides vital transportation to the program from her home.
Sandra has been attending the program since February 2010 and is now able to connect with her community and explore her cultural identity. She participates in many creative activities, including painting, and is currently working on a scrapbook of her life history.
Nexus Liaison Worker Carolyn says Sandra has been warmly welcomed by the Kitchen community and enjoys being part of the group.
‘She gets very excited when she comes in and everybody arrives, she’s very vocal.’
The vision of Nexus is to help people with a disability to reach new horizons and realise their dreams and aspirations through community inclusion. Sandra’s involvement with the Community Kitchen program is an excellent example of the achievement of this vision.