Hello! My names Raymond Drew, Raymond James Drew, I'm the king, no no no... I'm not the queen,
the queen, and I like singing songs, I like music, Oh and drama, ooh, do you like drama? Oh yes.
I was a music teacher at Paisley High School and my girlfriend used to live in Hopetoun I
was visiting her one day and I touched a lamp that was faulty. I was trying to fix the lamp
which I shouldn't have been in the first place and I got electrocuted. It caused blindness and
loss of memory. It caused me brain damage and I can't walk. I can speak (hopefully)
but I can't walk. I used to like walking. My father used to take me for a walk around
the block every time. I used to like playing football, too. I've got a few trophies in my
room. Best and fairest and second best and fairest. And most consistent. Because of my
seizures it's stopped me doing horse riding. And swimming because I might drown in the pool
or I could fall off a horse. I live with it now. I find that when you get something drastically wrong
with you, you have to live with it. I might have sworn at a support person. It wasn't intended. I
might have sworn at a support person. I can't say its not my fault because I did it. But it
wasn't the real Ray Drew. It was Ray Drew during the seizure, and the real Ray Drew is pre-seizure.
It is very difficult to separate in those moments the behaviour of the person and you, you just stop
looking the person itself is not a person trying or doing that is just it's just the seizure, the
epilepsy. A lot of people when they see a person in a wheelchair, he says he feels pity for them.
You shouldn't because through the years people like me has learned to get a lot of strength from
them. And thus when you come to these places, you really need to keep your mind completely
open that you can give them they can give you and you can learn from them it is both ways.
I like the support worker person to tell me what happened with my seizure.
As a new support worker always make sure that you read the management plan for the clients,
it is important. That's the way that they request to be assisted. That's what they
want. And that has been obviously reviewed and support by the doctors. It is important
to get familiarised with that because it will make you a better support worker the
clients will be happy because you listen what they tell you that what they want.
H-a-p-p-y, I'm h-a-p-p-y you know I am, I'm sure I am, im h-a-p-p-y
I'm 24, Summernats see, some people don't know what the Summernats are. My name's Ben. I've
had epilepsy since I was 13. And about 15 it went out of control. I was in a wheelchair.
But now I've been out the wheelchair for that long and the toys have gone flat.
Even though he has seizures most days and every night. He just gets
up each day and keeps going and he's got so many dreams and aspirations.
It's stopped me from driving. I've always wanted to be a mechanic but I
can't in that sense too dangerous, but at work, I do car detailing.
He loves washing cars.
When it gets washed we clean the wheels. When we chamois it we chamois all the
inside the doors and everything. We get to take 'em back and pick up another one.
Even if he has seizures all during the night, and he's very tired,
and I know it's a struggle for him to get up and go to work.
We do the inside, right back in the seats as well as the floor, the boot.
I've made friends with people with other disabilities, and some of them think,
you know, they really hard done by and they look at me and think,
whoa, you know, I do see other people, worse off,
He tells me about other people who are having a hard time and he feels so empathetic towards them
and feels so sorry for them when he's got so much going on in his own life.
I've had quite a few support workers over the years. Dave
hes really good. Same with Melinda and then I've had a few bad ones.
A good support worker needs to adapt to change. Sometimes Ben's carer will come
to our place and then we'll have something organized that he wants to do for the day.
He might want to go around and look at some cars, he may want to go to Donut King. If it's
a nice cool day I have cappuccino. If it's too hot,
then I'll have a milkshake. Yes, with couple of doughnuts.
But it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes Ben may have had so
many seizures during the night, and he's struggling to get out of bed,
so Dave needs to then change that program. Maybe let Ben have a sleep
in and then try and do those things later in the afternoon rather than early in the morning.
I feel safe with Dave when I have a seizure because he's even seen my
big tonic seizures. He even asks mum what he needs to do to help.
You don't have to call an ambulance every time that they have a seizure.
There's lots of different seizures just relax and enjoy the person. The person
has epilepsy the epilepsy doesn't have the person.
Down the street. You know, people give us bad looks and everything and I mean they've really
said some horrible stuff because I wear the helmet so I need to wear the helmet when I'm standing but
I don't need to wear when I'm sitting and I don't need to wear when I'm asleep either. And even at
the Summernats, everybody, you know, like they all just come up to you, even though some of
them are that drunk, they still, yeah, they still come up to you and start chatting. Oh
no, Fords are good cars, but I'd rather own this than the Toyota.