Category Archives for "Finding and Choosing Supports"

Sep 06 2021

Meal preparation and delivery in Lockdown

So, you’re in lockdown and you can’t cook your own meals. And you’re sick of tinned tuna and corn chips?

But you’d rather not have support workers in your home any more than is absolutely necessary, so you hopefully don’t get the cooties?

And you don’t want them to cook your meals at their house and drop them off because you really have no clue how hygienic their home or cooking is?

And you’re hungry?

If your plan is self managed and you have enough budget, please, order some meals to be delivered, and claim 70% of the cost from your NDIS plan to cover the preparation and delivery portion of the cost. The Price Guide DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU and you are allowed to claim this, as long as it meets the “Can I Buy It?” checklist.

And if you’re Plan Managed, call your plan manager and explain the situation, and if they won’t budge, call your local federal minister and let them know that your (ridiculous) plan restrictions mean you have to choose between no covid or no food.

If you’re Agency Managed, you’re up p**p creek without a paddle. Sorry. Maybe call the NDIS and ask them to switch some of your funding to Self Managed?

Pic desc: a very sad white plate with three corn chips each with a little bit of tinned tuna on them.

This post is copyright of The Growing Space 2021, but you are mightily welcome and encouraged to share it, with credit and no edits.

Mar 22 2020

Top 33 Ways to use Support Workers while avoiding COVID-19

Click here to download a formatted .pdf 2 page version of: Support Workers and Social Distancing March 2020Download

For some participants, personal care, lifting and other physical support needs means you can’t avoid having direct contact with support workers.

But there are many people in the NDIS, who don’t need that physical support but still need support! If you are one of those people, you can ask your support workers to help support you while wearing a mask if possible, but to work to not touch you or get close to you. Here are a stack of ideas. Please feel free to add your own to share!

The most important thing is to always make sure they wash their hands, really well, as soon as they arrive or meet you.

So, depending on your support needs, your worker could maybe:

  1. meet you outside and go for a walk together, keeping a few metres apart
  2. sit outside, 2 metres apart, and learn to play an instrument together (like ukulele, or the recorder)
  3. make and/or fly a kite at the local park
  4. leave your laundry outside the front door, and ask your support worker to pick it up, take it home, wash and dry, and then return it if they’re ok to do this
  5. get a free skype account and talk, and read books, help prompt or direct you with cooking something yummy, watch a TV show or movie at the same time as you, play online games together or even do your online shopping together
  6. take you for a drive (with you in the back if you’re not driving!) with the windows down and play the music loud and sing (this may not be a safe enough distance apart, however)
  7. help you find and collect some free or cheap basic gym equipment, set it up outside, and have the worker direct, from a safe distance, a great workout
  8. if legal and safe, have a fire pit set up and sit either side of it and tell ghost stories, or eat lots of marshmallows
  9. google outdoor yard pranks and have some fun with neighbourhood friends
  10. try geocaching (if you’re allowed out)
  11. sit across an outside table at home, and pain rocks, and then walk to a local park and hide them for others to find (google “painted rocks” to learn more)
  12. letterbox the neighbours with you and offer to walk their dogs for free or pay
  13. do your shopping and errands without you if you are at risk, so you are less likely to be exposed
  14. find a free or cheap outdoor table on gumtree or facebook, make a net from an old pair of stockings, grab some table tennis bats online and play ping pong outside in the driveway (or beer pong if you’re old enough and like beer!)
  15. wash the car together, but always on opposite sides of the car, and wear gloves
  16. build a garden together and grow some food, herbs or pretty flowers
  17. have your worker help you facetime with your friends
  18. learn a new language together (maybe Auslan – sign language)
  19. tennis is a low contact game, and maybe renting a couple of kayaks or going for a bike ride could work to get outside
  20. remote art programs
  21. have them help you sort out a home budget
  22. Chalk up your driveway or write messages to your neighbours on your footpath
  23. check out the bazillions of online learning apps and homeschool resources
  24. do some virtual tours of some of the world’s greatest museums and art galleries
  25. play Pictionary or scrabble by zoom
  26. develop a daily routine and make some visual schedules together
  27. learn to do some outdoor household chores – like sweeping or picking up the dog poop
  28. teach the dog a few new tricks – tonnes of great YouTube videos to learn this
  29. learn a magic trick together
  30. but a cheap blind from the bargain bin, and see if you can borrow or score an old cheap projector, and set up an outdoor cinema at home for an evening – just keep those bean bags a few metres apart
  31. learn about botany, and collect samples from your local parks and build an album of dried leaves and flowers
  32. make a podcast remotely together
  33. make some photo books from your favourite trips

I’ve not included links for all of these – a quick google will probably get you a bunch of good answers!

This list was compiled, in part, with some ideas from the (awesome) people in the “NDIS Self-Managing Participants And Their Families” Facebook Group. Thank you for their brilliant ideas.

Feel free to share this list, with credit, but add your own ideas, too!

22 March 2020

Mar 22 2020

FREE COVID19 Webinar for NDIS Participants and Families

For disabled people and families – Practical strategies and ideas, led by Sam Paior – The Growing Space
1 hour on Wednesday March 25th

WA: 8:00AMNT: 9:30AMQLD: 10:00AMSA: 10:30AMVIC/ACT/NSW/TAS: 11:00AM

Book here now: thegrowingspace.com.au/covid19/ (Auslan Interpreter AND live captioning now booked!)


In this one hour Zoom webinar, we are not going to just tell you to wash your hands – you already know about that.
But we ARE going to go through ways to manage service providers and day options and ADE closures and talk about the big issues – and what happens if someone in my group home tests positive?
As well as ways to creatively utilise your support workers now that many recreation options are also closed.
We’ll also talk about related NDIS issues and options and ideas for looking after yourself and those you love.


We expect this to be the first in a series as everything is changing so quickly!


Many thanks to Disability Services Consulting for sharing their zoom webinar service with us to use.
pic desc: a blue confused looking icon of a virus with two sharp white teeth and googly eyes

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