Foreword

by Chris Sidoti

I remember the day in 1999 when the representatives of Cooinda came to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. As Human Rights Commissioner I was conducting an inquiry on behalf of the Commission into rural and remote education. The Cooinda parents and the indomitable Sue Pringle made the trip from Wodonga to Melbourne to tell the inquiry about the educational needs of children with disabilities and their families in non-metropolitan areas. The presentation was sharp and insightful. They had had loads of experience. They were the true experts on the subject, having lived it every day for years. Their appearance that day began a process of continuing contact. Their story became familiar to me.

The Cooinda story is a story of success and distress. It is a story of parents and their extended families and their communities determined to do the very best they could for their children and for each other. It is a story of struggling to establish and then continue the services grouped under the umbrella of Cooinda. It is a story of personal dedication.

In many ways the Cooinda story is similar to those of many community support organisations. A need is recognised and a service commenced. An organisational auspice has to be found or established. As more and more people hear of the service, demand increases and the services have to expand. New activities are added and with them new tensions. There are funding crises and conflicts with auspicing groups. There are internal dissensions. But all the while the service continues, never relenting in the determination to offer the necessary services as well as possible.

The Cooinda story also has less typical aspects. The difficulty in working in a cross-border situation, for example, is not one shared with most community services groups, although common enough in places like Albury-Wodonga, Coolangatta-Tweed Head and Canberra-Queanbeyan. It seems that lines drawn on maps remain far more important than people in need of services and support. There are lessons in the Cooinda story for those government officials willing to learn them.

Most of all the Cooinda story is a story of people. The story is really many stories. All tell of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Courageous people. They face challenges that most parents and families do not have to face. For them a child's disability is simply another part of life difficult at times, personally challenging but rewarding too, always demanding, often amusing and often distressing. Their stories and their shared story in Cooinda are ultimately a story of love.

This collection of the stories of Cooinda lets others share their experiences - their joys and hopes, their griefs and anxieties. It affirms them in what they have accomplished. And it demands that the rest of us deal as well with the challenges, of whatever kind, that life inevitably brings to each person.

May Cooinda and it's families go from strength to strength.