DOMINIC HONG DUC GOLDING

disability accommodation support worker

I look after people with quite profound disabilities – from someone who might be great at conversing with you, but not great at buying something at the counter, to people with severe cerebral palsy who are virtually immobile. I work part-time, usually looking after the same five people who live in a home run by the state government. If you drive by, the house looks the same as any other, but inside, there are additional safety mechanisms like ramps and fire safety measures.

The job involves a lot of manual handling and lifting people up. Then there’s cleaning, preparing meals, showering, medical administration, and making sure everyone’s tucked into bed. I do night shift about four or five times within a two-week roster – more if someone pulls out – and shifts are generally from 5pm to either 9.30am or 12.30pm the next day. There are two types of night shifts: a ‘sleepover’, where you’re allowed to sleep on the job (but generally can’t because you're dealing with whatever goes bump in the night), and an ‘active night’, where you can’t sleep at all because you've got someone in the house who needs constant observation, watching for things like stroke and epilepsy. If it goes pear-shaped when you’re by yourself, it’s incredibly scary. But you have to assure yourself there’s back-up and emergency services if it comes down to it.

On sleepover shifts, I’m technically supposed to sleep at 10pm, but I usually get to bed anywhere between 1 and 3am. That said, there are long stretches when I’m bored on the job. I basically look at my phone until something else needs to be done. There’s a TV in the house, but I’m not a fan of commercial stuff – I had to watch that horrible show

Married at First Sight recently, and didn’t enjoy it.

When I do two night shifts in a row, I honestly feel like shit. My diet is completely all over the shop and my ability to tolerate people drastically diminishes. But I try to recover with daytime sleep. I go home, plonk down, do some gaming or just collapse and kind of semi-sleep or meditate. There’s always something going on in the city, but forget about it when you’re working night shifts and weekends. One perk is that I can get away from peak hour – I’m usually going the opposite way on the tram to everyone else.

I’ve been doing this job for two and a bit years now. It’s hard, but I enjoy engaging with the residents, and having a good laugh with the workers. I’m a bogan from the bush, so I like working with that social class of people. And the residents, as difficult as they can be, have their joys. As someone with a hearing impairment and cerebral palsy myself, I understand their needs. People see limitations, but I see possibilities.