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:
meet you outside and go for a walk together, keeping a few metres apart
sit outside, 2 metres apart, and learn to play an instrument together (like ukulele, or the recorder)
make and/or fly a kite at the local park
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
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
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)
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
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
google outdoor yard pranks and have some fun with neighbourhood friends
try geocaching (if you’re allowed out)
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)
letterbox the neighbours with you and offer to walk their dogs for free or pay
do your shopping and errands without you if you are at risk, so you are less likely to be exposed
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!)
wash the car together, but always on opposite sides of the car, and wear gloves
build a garden together and grow some food, herbs or pretty flowers
have your worker help you facetime with your friends
learn a new language together (maybe Auslan – sign language)
tennis is a low contact game, and maybe renting a couple of kayaks or going for a bike ride could work to get outside
remote art programs
have them help you sort out a home budget
Chalk up your driveway or write messages to your neighbours on your footpath
check out the bazillions of online learning apps and homeschool resources
do some virtual tours of some of the world’s greatest museums and art galleries
play Pictionary or scrabble by zoom
develop a daily routine and make some visual schedules together
learn to do some outdoor household chores – like sweeping or picking up the dog poop
teach the dog a few new tricks – tonnes of great YouTube videos to learn this
learn a magic trick together
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
learn about botany, and collect samples from your local parks and build an album of dried leaves and flowers
make a podcast remotely together
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!
