Things have been tough at home for the last six months. To tell you the truth, things have been tough for a lot longer than that, but these six months have definitely been the hardest. To give you some background, my wife’s sister lives with us. She moved in with us four years ago when my wife’s parents passed away. Her sister is a lovely human, but she has a lot of care needs. When my in-laws passed away, my wife became her primary carer. I did not, and do not, mind the fact that my sister-in-law lives with us. What I do mind is the fact that caring for her is restricting our lives a fair bit. It probably sounds horrible to say, and I acknowledge that. See, my wife and I were planning to have children. We put those plans on hold when she moved in because we thought being full-time carers for her would take some time getting used to. Being full-time carers meant sacrificing our own lives to learn how to9 properly care for someone.
In the last six months, we opened the discussion of looking at SDA housing options for disability. Adelaide has a few options that I’d like to consider, but my wife feels funny about. My wife has this overhanging feeling of guilt surrounding the topic. She feels like we’re giving up and sending her sister to a care home. I keep reminding her that it’s not like that at all. We’re taking her somewhere where she will get the proper care she needs and deserves. We’re not proper carers, we’re just guessing a lot of the time.
The benefits of NDIS high intensity support facilities are endless. They give the resident community opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have been a part of. My sister-in-law will be given the opportunity to socialise with people who aren’t just myself or my wife. She’ll get to engage with activities, and receive care that is suited to her. There are so many obvious positives, I think my wife just needs to process it all first.