Alan’s always championed people with disabilities

WHEN approached to share his experiences as a volunteer in acknowledgment of National Volunteer Week, Alan O’Callaghan was hesitant.

ADVOCATE: Alan O'Callaghan.

WHEN approached to share his experiences as a volunteer in acknowledgment of National Volunteer Week (May 18-24), Alan O’Callaghan was hesitant.

“I’ve always had a dilemma about promoting the link between people with disabilities and volunteering as if it’s their only work option,” Alan said matter-of-factly.

“Before moving from Melbourne, I had paid employment for about 15 years along with two university diplomas. In Queensland, my experience and qualifications meant nothing.”

Alan is a man of many facets – husband, father, retired public servant and a long-time advocate for people with disabilities. He also has cerebral palsy.

He serves as the committee secretary for 121 Care and president for the Mooloolah Valley Community Association to which he volunteers not only his time, but also his skills, knowledge and experience as a community worker.

“My involvement in the management of organisations now is not primarily about volunteering as it is about advocating,” he said.

“On the committee of 121 Care, it’s about service consumers having a voice in the way services are focused on their choices. For many years, disability agencies were more concerned about services they provided and the medical model of disability, which I fear is creeping back in the with advent of NDIS. In services like that, people with disabilities (PWDs) had no choice in how they received services.”

The busy septuagenarian has not only continued his advocacy for PWDs in retirement, but also ensuring that his community in Mooloolah continues to thrive.

“As president of Mooloolah Valley Community Association, it’s about ensuring we obtain and provide benefits for our local community (and) the reason I involve myself in such activities is more about the politics than occupying my time as a volunteer,” he said.

It was through decades of activism by pioneers such as Alan that led to the eventual establishment of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

“In the late ’70s, a friend encouraged me to become involved in the Disabled Action Forum which led to the establishment of the Disability Resources Centre,” he said.

During the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons, as a member of the inaugural Committee of the DRC, Alan began lobbying for in-home support for people with disabilities. The same year, he was also involved in organising a Super March where 3000 PWDs took their concerns through the Melbourne CBD.

“Ironically, it was my advocacy and activism that led to my first paid employment (and) the jobs I had over the years had a strong advocacy component,” he said.

Alan worked in the adult education sector supporting students with disabilities then later in local government for 10 years as access and integration officer advising on disability issues, policy, training and service gaps.

“I have spent most of my life lobbying for in-home support and independent living for people with disabilities (and) my main aim was to put an end to institutionalisation and segregation for PWDs” he said.

With the NDIS scheme now up and running, all that work has almost paid off.

“Unfortunately, those of us who lobbied so long for such a program have been excluded due to the age limit imposed on entry to NDIS,” he said

Alan and his family relocated to the Sunshine Coast from Melbourne at the turn of the millennium for his health. In trying to find work here, Alan came across Quality Lifestyle Alliance, the forerunner of 121 Care. His life and work proves advocacy in volunteerism can and does bring about change for the better.

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