Positive Behaviour Support - Department of Human Services - Vic ...

96 Positive behaviour support: Getting it right from the start - Facilitators reference manual
Some homebuyers have complained to The Age that they were never briefed about the reality
of living next to intellectually disabled residents. Others say there was no mention of disabled
neighbours at all.
There is an argument, of course, that homebuyers should not expect to be even notified of the
presence of intellectually disabled neighbours because to raise it is discriminatory in itself. But
for some with long involvement in caring for the disabled, being as frank and up front as possible
about living cheek by jowl with intellectual disability is the only way. They say tensions now
developing were inevitable. The Government was warned.
"I think Walker under the guidance or direction of the Department of Human Services was
encouraged to underplay the behaviours of the residents," says one professional saddened that
the KRS residents are the subject of controversy on their own turf.
One resident, for instance, has long struggled with his pants slipping down. Like Dorothy and
her trees, he continues to behave as he always did at Kew. It's the world around him that has
changed. His parkland home is now a smart housing estate. With narrow streets, no fences, and
missing footpaths, close contact with his new neighbours was always on the cards.
Says one source familiar with the KRS residents: "What were they (the Government) thinking,
that all of a sudden because you put him in a house there that his pants would stop slipping
down?"
A well-placed source says that in light of complaints about the KRS residents, it has been made
clear to carers that the residents should be less conspicuous. "Don't do anything that might
upset the local community," is how the source summarised the message…
…There is a real fear that an experiment that tore down institutional barriers may yet lead to
the saddest of paradoxes at Kew. "It's the worst thing I could imagine," says a seasoned Kew
local. "There's a handful of KRS residents who have lived on there forever; great characters
who wander around the site which is their home. It would be an absolute tragedy if the limited
freedom they have is taken from them."
Royce Millar is an Age investigative reporter.