Story Sharers (Day 2)

Joining Ricky Esterquest for the Opening Session will be Alex Purvis, Elise and Nina Magrath and Jo Cross

Alex Purvis

Alex is the father of four adult children.  For many years he has been promoting the rights of his son Dan, as well as developing individualised, self-managed support to ensure Dan has meaningful and enriched life. Alex’ knowledge of advocacy, legal and persuasive techniques were honed through his experiences in encouraging the education system to include all children.  Dan now has a micro-enterprise, Good Life Venture, which grew out of his love for newspapers.  He is well known around town for his contributions and has been recognised with an Australia Day Award nomination.

Elise Magrath

Elise is married to Michael and Mum to 3 beautiful teenagers: Nina (18) and her siblings Marco (16) & Mariella (14). They live in the Riverina. Elise will share some of the stories of supporting her daughter Nina to live an included life within her local community. Nina is finding her voice as a young leader and enjoys making a valued contribution. She dreams of living in her own home one day, with her cats, and a partner. She enjoys connecting to other artists via her art practice and microenterprise. Nina will hold her first solo art exhibition in Wagga 15th - 31 August this year.  60 people attended Nina's recent 18th birthday who know her through the many different ways she is part of their community. See Nina’s art on Instagram at ninafrankie_creative

Jo Cross

Jo is Mum to Rachael who is a vibrant 29 year old woman and a multimodal communicator. All the good things in their lives can be attributed to connections with like-minded families who shared their experience of building genuinely inclusive lives for their children. Building connections and relationships in the community is always a work in progress often requiring Jo to think outside the box to find unique opportunities for Rachael’s inclusion.  Rachael has a micro-enterprise, Fuican Create, based around her original artwork and is preparing to live in her own home independent of family.  Thinking outside the box creates muscle memory making it easier, over time, for Jo and Rachael to spot opportunities for building a good life.