Story Sharers (Day 1)

Joining Meg Sweeney for the Opening Session, will be Judith Ellis, Vannessa Shearman, Wendy Stroeve and Sussana Wagner.

Judith Ellis

Judith Ellis is Matthew’s mother.  She works with friends to assist Matthew to live in a home he can call his own, with people of his choice, who don’t live with disability themselves.  Matthew has the level of support that he needs and enjoys a valued life within his local community.  He’s the principal of a small business.

Judith is known across Australia for work with the families of people with developmental disability and for influencing the direction of government policy.  She has worked in independent advocacy for most of her working life and was the director a state wide advocacy agency for over 11 years.

Vannessa Shearman

Vanessa lives in Bathurst.  Two of her children live with disability - Joshua (25) and Blake (17). Both young men impress Vanessa every day with their strength, individuality, and determination.

Joshua has a mail delivery micro business, JLS Maillink.  Blake is in Year 12, preparing for life beyond school.

Vanessa’s family recognizes that the power of community and the value of being connected to others enrich their lives and support the journey forward.  Through these experiences, their family has learned to navigate life's challenges together with resilience and compassion. Vanessa is passionate about advocating for the importance of vision, inclusion and community in creating a good life.

Wendy Stroeve

Wendy Stroeve is a retired teacher who lives in Central Western NSW with her partner Hans and 35 year-old son, Alex. She has a 33 year long connection with Family Advocacy.  At times, the connections she has made with like-minded people through Family Advocacy have felt like a lifeline.  Wendy knows well that choosing to walk with a person with disability, supporting and encouraging their pursuit of a decent, valued life is not choosing an easy path.  She believes that finding inspiration and support from others is very helpful in sustaining that effort.

Susanna Wagner

Susanna and her family live on Sydney’s Northern beaches.  Her 22 year old son, Luca, left school 4 yrs ago.  He runs his own microenterprise, Braille by Luca, working with businesses to make their services more accessible to braille users, running workshops in schools and more.  He is studying Indigenous Studies in Sydney University’s Uni 2 Beyond programme.

Luca’s Vision is to be known and connected to community through work, study and hobbies, having many opportunities to develop and maintain friendships.

Luca’s family have found the connections they’ve formed through Family Advocacy essential for encouragement, feedback and ideas.