JOYOUS: Frank Gunn hangs out playing a Wii dancing game with his sister Rowena, 16, right, and her friend Tess Nettlefold, 17. Picture: RICHARD JUPE
TODAY is party time for Hobart's Frank Gunn.
The New Town teenager, born with Mowat-Wilson syndrome and its associated heart disease, epilepsy and bowel problems, turns 15 and will spend the day ten-pin bowling with friends and family.
But July 1 also means the start of the the National Disability Insurance Scheme trial, which Frank's mother, Megan, said could be the gift that lasts a lifetime.
Ms Gunn, who spoke to the Mercury in April about her hopes for the NDIS (since renamed DisabilityCare Australia), said she was confident the scheme would provide Frank with the quality of life most Australians take for granted.
"The difference is that Frank and I are now in the driver's seat," she said, after recently learning what the scheme would mean for them at a conference in Melbourne.
"No longer are we dictated to by what is available. Now they are asking us, 'what do you need to have a reasonable life'. And that's a very different way of thinking."
Ms Gunn said she and Frank were particularly encouraged by the scheme's flexibility, which gave clients the opportunity to tinker with their plans to find the option that best suited their needs.
The mother of three said she was realistic, not expecting overnight miracles from the scheme introduced earlier this year by then Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
But she said that long-term, her intellectually disabled son would have the substantially increased quality of life he deserved.
"I know he won't be going to the skate park, but he loves music, and would love to go to Salamanca to listen to the buskers or see a band with people his own age," she said.
"I want Frank to have as normal a life as he possibly can."
Ms Gunn described the introduction of the DisabilityCare Australia trial as exciting and empowering and said she and her son would no longer feel like second-class citizens with their increase in access and life choices.
And she described Frank turning 15 -- the eligibility age for the scheme --
"It's kind if exciting because now we have extra reason to celebrate," Ms Gunn said.
"Hopefully it is the start of a whole new way of living for Frank, and for us as a family."
duncan.abey@news.com.au
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