Through new skills, Nicole is finding her voice.
This Christmas, you can help others do the same.
Meet Nicole.
Meet Nicole.
When Dianne first heard her daughter Nicole sing the national anthem, she cried.
It was at an awards assembly at Nicole’s school. Dianne had been told that Nicole was going to sing, but she didn’t really believe it. Sure enough, Nicole got up on stage, in front of the whole assembly; teachers, students, families, and sang. She was confident and beaming. “I stood there and cried my heart out,” said Dianne.
Unfortunately, Nicole’s dad John got held up and arrived late, and missed the performance. So once he got there, Dianne asked them to do it all again so he could watch this little girl shine. He had to see it.
Nicole’s starring assembly role was just one in a long line of moments that have shown her parents that life has a way of surprising you.
“When Nicole was born [with Down’s syndrome], it was hard to imagine a future,” said John. “We didn’t know what kind of life she was going to be able to have. We had no experience in this, we just knew that we were going to love her, show everyone how much we love her, and do whatever we could to support her needs.”
When you’re a parent of a child with disability, the future can feel uncertain and fill you with worry. How will your child make their way in the world: a world that isn’t built for them? How will they get the right support to learn the skills they’ll need to build a life they want to live?
Nicole is proof that, with the right learning environment and resources, a world of possibilities is just around the corner.
A client with Endeavour Foundation for around 16 years, Nicole currently attends the Bowen Hills Learning and Lifestyle hub where she enjoys a range of activities, including cooking, science class, and bowling, which is particularly good for Nicole’s fitness goals – “it gets my heart racing,” she says. Such a varied schedule gives Nicole a good variety of learning opportunities while helping her reach her personal goals.
“People with Down’s syndrome can plateau in progress, but it’s important to always keep learning,” says Dianne, who is herself a school teacher. “We all should be life-long students! There’s always new things to learn.
“Nicole is good at retaining information and learning new skills. Once she learns something, she doesn’t forget it. It can take time, and you need to have patience, but you see the rewards.
“We want Nicole to be as independent as she can possibly be and live the life she wants to live, whatever that is. So growing her skills and her confidence is very important for that.”
We all learn in different ways, and creating an inclusive and accessible learning environment is one of the best ways that we can foster an inclusive society for all.
Unfortunately, people with disability often struggle to access inclusive learning and skills training resources designed for their needs.
That’s why, this Christmas, we’re committed to raising $65,000 to provide smart technologies, including smart boards, virtual reality (VR) headsets and digital tablets, to our training sites and learning and lifestyle hubs.
These sorts of resources provide more tangible, visual learning aides that make learning easy and fun.
Assistive and adaptive technologies adapt to the user's individual way of learning, which makes learning more inclusive and can help to reduce the functional impacts of learning disabilities, which in turn can mean a greater success in developing new skills.
Nicole’s happiness lies very much in the arts. One of Nicole’s biggest life goals is to work on her speech, and with that goal in mind, she began taking drama and singing classes. Nicole may struggle sometimes with her words, but when she started singing songs and performing on stage, a passion was unlocked within her, and her speech began to improve.
“When she’s on stage, Nicole just shines,” says Dianne. “She’s very disciplined when she’s learning lines. We run them together at home when she’s learning. And she’s so dedicated. She’s not just learning her own lines, she’s learning everyone else’s!
“Performing has really helped her grow her confidence. She’s so much more confident now than she used to be. Now, she’s advocating for herself, speaking up, expressing her wants and needs.
“We’re amazed at how at ease she is on stage, and how it has helped her develop and improve her skills. It’s had such a positive effect on her life.”
Nicole’s determination and passion, combined with the right resources, is seeing her speech improve and her confidence grow in leaps and bounds.
This is why the right learning environment and resources are so important. Without them, people with disability can miss vital, and rightful, opportunities to reach their potential.
Smart technologies like smart boards, VR headsets and digital tablets are in huge demand across our training sites and learning and lifestyle hubs, as more and more people with disability look for assistive resources that will help them learn the skills they need in all aspects of life, including home, work, and community.
These resources can adapt to the user's individual learning needs and support with things like speech, visual learning, repetitive learning, dexterity and mobility. They can deliver a wide range of dynamic multimedia content that is engaging and easy to interact with.
When it comes to future goals, Nicole is still focusing on her speech and her fitness. “I’m proud of my speaking,” she says. “I’m proud of learning my lines and I’m proud of my performing.” She’s not too sure about where she’ll go next, but one thing is certain: she’s already proven that the sky is the limit.
“We’re so proud of everything Nicole has achieved,” says Dianne. “She has done so much more than we could ever have imagined, and we just think – who knows where she’ll go next!”
John agrees. “We celebrate everything Nicole can do, we don’t focus on the things she can’t.
“What we’ve learned, what Nicole has taught us, is that she is so capable. Every day we’re surprised by her.
“We’ll always be her biggest advocates.”
This Christmas, your kindness and generosity can help us to raise the funds needed to provide new smart learning technologies so that Nicole and her peers have the inclusive learning environment they deserve to build essential life and work skills.
When you’re writing out your gift list for your loved ones this Christmas, please consider including people with disability and give them the transformational gift of learning. Your Christmas donation could be the start of someone’s new personal goal, or employment dream, or life-long passion.
Every donation counts towards creating a happy new year of possibilities.
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