09/08/2026
YES, I’M AN SC WITH MS. ❤️
And every month, I go to the Wollongong MS Peer Support Group lunch.
Why have I done this for years?
Because facing a progressive neurological disease is a hell of a lot easier when you’re sitting around a table with people who get it than when you’re facing it alone.
Today I wore my fabulous new earrings, bought yesterday at the Warrawong markets from a very cool 73-year-old bloke who makes handmade jewellery.
They say “Happy” and have a colourful girl in red shoes swinging away.
Basically, that reminds me of younger me.
I ordered a chicken roll and salad and proceeded to discuss:
🎬 The latest movies
💇♀️ Why Lauren at Wests Illawarra is the best hairdresser
🚶♀️ Why movement matters
💊 MS disease-modifying drugs
❤️ And why you really should LIVE your life while you can
And it got me thinking about the NDIS.
We were promised greater community inclusion, employment and societal change.
But sometimes I look around and wonder whether we accidentally built Provider Land instead.
A place where people’s social lives can become:
➡️ Support worker arrives
➡️ Support worker takes you somewhere
➡️ Support worker leaves
➡️ Repeat
That isn’t the same thing as genuine community.
For me, genuine inclusion looks like sitting around a table with other people living with MS, arguing about movies, talking absolute rubbish, sharing lunch and occasionally discussing medications without anyone needing to write a progress note about it.
😂
I’m incredibly grateful for my MS group.
Not because it fixes MS.
It doesn’t.
But because I don’t have to face it alone.
And sometimes the best support isn’t a funded support at all.
Sometimes it’s a chicken roll, fabulous earrings, a few laughs and people who understand exactly why you’re having the conversation you’re having.
Happy Sunday everyone. Go and actually LIVE this week. ❤️
