Kenny is so proud of the team at Rosewood who support him and many others at The Disability Trust’s Day Options program that he made a plan to write a book about his favourite place.
With guidance from his Key Worker Georgia Camilleri, he is piecing together the tales that will go into his book.
Kenny, who has autism and attends the Rosewood centre in Wollongong four days a week, is a super creative 27-year-old who loves drama, dance and music.
He is writing the book about the people who attend Rosewood and what makes it such a positive place, referencing how each participant is unique in a fun and quirky way.
Many of the people who go to Rosewood have communication barriers but Kenny has been able to engage with his fellow participants to describe what makes them the individuals they are.
There’s Sarah who loves her headphones, Moh and his cups of tea and Lucy’s affinity with nail polish.
The idea for the book came about after Georgia and Kenny went on a walk and he was telling her all about how he can occasionally get angry when people don’t understand him.
Georgia realised this challenge was a perfect opportunity to support Kenny with an important life goal to express himself and see his book come to life.
She explained that a lot of people also have trouble understanding her at times and that it was only natural to feel frustrated.
“I was on a walk with Kenny one day. He always loves to tell me about his family, he thinks so highly of them. He has siblings and sometimes there’s fights because Kenny has such big emotions and sometimes can’t find the words to convey those emotions,” she said.
“It’s really tough when people can’t understand him and it knocks Kenny down sometimes. He was telling me it’s just his autism, he was born with it and there’s nothing wrong with having a disability.
“I was explaining that in my own personal life I was having issues expressing my emotions so I can understand how difficult it can be.”
They have formed a special bond during Kenny’s time at Rosewood and he is grateful for Georgia’s help in making the book come to life.
Kenny has been telling Georgia what he would like to include in the book and she has been compiling illustrations to help tell his story.
He plans on ending the book with a story about a dance party at Rosewood. This new goal is part of Kenny’s GOOD Plan that he is working on with Georgia’s support at The Disability Trust.
“I think the biggest change I’ve seen in Ken is the improvement in his confidence,” Georgia said, expressing her enthusiasm for the positive outcomes she has seen for Kenny through working towards his personal goal.
“He’s always been a creative person and when I first met him, he was kind of scared to release that creativity because of possible judgement and I think he has a lot of belief that he can’t do it.
“But now that he’s actually doing it, I’ve seen him build up so much.
“I think this book has definitely broken down some communication barriers, just in the way he doesn’t love a lot of focus on him because he gets quite overwhelmed but when we’re working on this book, he’s able to talk about the people he knows. You’re able to have a better conversation with him.”
Kenny said his favourite part of being at Rosewood is playing tricks on the staff and the other participants.
He joked that the book’s got blank pages at the moment but when he starts speaking about Rosewood, his eyes light up, particularly when the topic of conversation diverts from himself to his friends.
“We are donating the book to the library and everyone can read it,” he said.
And when asked what he’s going to do with the book once he’s finished, he replied “set it on fire” with a cheeky grin before adding that a dance party might be a better option.
We can all agree that’s a GOOD Plan, Kenny.
