MEMBERS of Ballarat\u2019s disabled community as well as their carers have expressed concerns at the lack of suitable changerooms for the city\u2019s main swimming facility.<\/p>\n
Aruma disability support worker Travis Brown regularly takes four clients to the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre for hydrotherapy sessions, one of whom is Keiran Callinan, who has cerebral palsy.<\/p>\n
Currently, the centre features two disabled changerooms, only one of which has a hoist, with both being installed since the site\u2019s opening in 1994.<\/p>\n
Mr Brown said his clients\u2019 appointments are frequently halted by the lack of changeroom amenities.<\/p>\n
\u201cKieran gets support once a week for water therapy,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s paying for two staff for three hours and you can\u2019t pre-book the rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, you\u2019ve got to pay for a cab to get up there, find out you can\u2019t get the room, and basically go home. He\u2019s paying for six hours of service he\u2019s not getting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens with a lot of the wheelchair-bound customers that come up here. A lot of other carers I know have put in complaints as well, and they get no feedback.<\/p>\n
Mr Brown said the situation is often worsened by the changerooms being regularly closed for maintenance as well as from poor signage leading non-disabled customers to use the facilities.<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019d like to see the number of disabled changerooms doubled.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the manager agreed with me that they need to mirror that other changeroom, to have two with hoists and another for people with walkers and stuff like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need to be clearly marked too that they\u2019re for disabilities only.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe water therapy sessions are very important for our customers. With Keiran, he\u2019s able to stretch more in the pool because he gets quite constricted in his chair. We notice he gets more movement in his muscles afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a woman who couldn\u2019t walk after she had an operation to fix her tendons in her leg. They brought her here for hydrotherapy and now she\u2019s walking again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The facility is run by the City of Ballarat, and acting director of community wellbeing Mark Patterson said the municipality is working on expanding the site\u2019s disabled amenities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre has a strong working partnership with the City of Ballarat Disability Advisory Committee, as well as local support agencies, and is consistently seeking feedback to ensure that the facility is meeting the needs of members of our community living with a disability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the recent initiatives implemented as part of this feedback includes concept plans for the redevelopment of the disabled adult change facility into two Changing Places rooms, introducing sensory quiet time, installing hearing loops, guide dog stations, mobility scooter recharge points, additional aquatic wheelchairs and an aquatic pool hoist.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pool hoist was unveiled earlier this month, and centre management are looking into funding options to expand the disabled changeroom offerings.<\/p>\n
With centre staff collecting attendance data based on customer experience surveys, 21 per cent of responders identified as having a chronic illness or disability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEMBERS of Ballarat\u2019s disabled community as well as their carers have expressed concerns at the lack of suitable changerooms for the city\u2019s main swimming facility. Aruma disability support worker Travis Brown regularly takes four clients to the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre for hydrotherapy sessions, one of whom is Keiran Callinan, who has cerebral palsy. […]<\/p>\n