Introduction

by Thea Calzoni

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Thea Calzoni

The Capability Dialogues is a book about people with disabilities and their families, support workers, volunteers and friends. It gives inspiring examples of how people can help each other, not just to cope, but to expand their horizons and have fun. Editing of material has been kept to a minimum to allow individual personalities to shine. Most of the stories are renditions of personal experiences written by the story teller or transcribed from the spoken word.

This is not a collection of hard luck stories. The writing tends not to focus on the pain and sadness of disability, even though the writers do not make light of their problems. Rather, they present their experience as part of life's unfolding journey.

Cooinda Family Support Group Inc. is a community organisation of families living with disability in the Albury/Wodonda region which helps it's members achieve capability. The Capability Dialogues, like Cooinda itself, is based on the participation of family members who care for a person with a disability, workers, volunteers and people with disabilities themselves and their friends and supporters. This book was developed through a community writing project which I facilitated as a writer entering the community to scribe and describe and to spread the word that original stories were valued and needed. So many people declared that they didn't have much of a story to tell. I am glad that many changed their minds (even if it was way past the official deadline), but some have stories yet to be told. It is hoped that more and more people will eventually take the step to email their story to The Capability Dialogues website which allows for an ever expanding collection.

Many types of disability are discussed in The Capability Dialogues: intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, genetic conditions, autism, Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit disorder. The book begins with stories from people familiar with physical and developmental disabilities and genetic conditions, then leads on to experiences of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD in the latter part of the book. At the end of the book can be found the stories of workers, volunteers and supporters of Cooinda. This ordering has been arranged for ease of access by people with interest in a particular area. There are stories from people on either side of the Victoria/N.S.W. border, some from the land, some from the town, some from the outskirts of town. Many speak of the challenges faced in their daily lives. There are stories that document the lives of children who have died. Some are from parents who are no longer married. There are stories from grandparents, some of whom have custody of their children's children with disabilities. There are contributions from people with disabilities and from their siblings and friends. Writing by volunteers gives insight into the rewarding experience of community service. Also included is writing about Cooinda's turbulent history and it's everyday chaos as a genuine community run organisation.

All those who worked on the project of developing The Capability Dialogues have an appreciation of the messy reality of living with disability. We also understand that where there is genuine community, there will not necessarily be harmony and things will not always run on schedule. A community steering committee helped to manage the project and gather stories and photographs for The Capability Dialogues. Everyone was already exhausted by family life, but energy was somehow found for the project. The committee generated ongoing enthusiasm and ushered more stories in way past the deadline. Fair enough. But how would we get the photo? More than half of the photographs commissioned for the project were taken by Cooinda family member, Paul Temple. Others were taken by Ron Fleckner, my partner and artistic collaborator in the development of the book. Others were contributed from family collections or the Border Mail newspaper. People have been generous in granting permission to be photographed and for their images to be displayed along with their stories, documenting their identity as people touched by disability. This project has brought many people together with a sense of shared purpose in a celebration of their achievements as a community.

Reading the stories will be helpful for people coming to terms with disability in their family. The book will be a useful resource for professionals, therapists, teachers, support workers and service providers in developing awareness of key issues in the lives of people with disabilities and what makes them strong. Documenting the capacity of people with disabilities and their families in an empowering community, The Capability Dialogues is also recommended reading for students and practitioners of community development, for community service providers and their Departmental Heads and their Ministers, indeed, for all those charged with the responsibility of sustaining communities.