Helen lives with MS and ended up in hospital after falling over and breaking her leg. Helen lost mobility and was unable to go home. After 5 months in hospital, her only option was to move into aged care.
She was living with people 30 years older and describes her time in aged care as socially isolating. With a lack of connection and information, Helen began to think she would never leave aged care.
“There was the initial stage of grief and sadness being in a place so much an institution and so much not me.”
“Each day spent in a RAC you become more unwell, you lose skills.”
But after 7 years and becoming an NDIS participant, Helen learned about Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA). She realised this could be an option for her.
Helen now lives in an SDA apartment. It is even better than she thought it could be. In her own home, with her own things around, she can be herself. Helen is no longer socially isolated and can enjoy living in her city.
“I was only given 1 option, which was to live in a nursing home. I was young and working – it is still hard to understand why it had to be this way.”
Read and watch more stories from young people who lived in aged care
