An eastern Victorian family has built an accessible home for their son who has a disability and hopes to be reimbursed by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
According to ABC News, 36-year-old Aresti Vassiliou was diagnosed with a large tumour in his frontal lobe at the age of three. The surgery resulted in brain damage and, after a fall at a playground, years of seizures.
When ambulances tried to help Aresti one day during his time of need, paramedics took over an hour to get him out of the 1960s house he had grown up in. Narrow spaces made it difficult to manoeuvre him.
“Aresti got so upset, really distressed,” his sister, Catherine Vassiliou, told ABC News.
The family decided to build an accessible house, with widened doorways for emergency cases, a structural supported bathroom, climate control and other changes. They wanted to ensure Aresti did not end up in an assisted disability space in the future.
The NDIS allows for people living with disabilities to receive funds for support with daily living.
The Vassiliou family consulted their occupational therapist before making changes to their home and told ABC News they will apply for the NDIS in order to be reimbursed for the total cost of the accessible features.
“That peace of mind that some of it could be covered through NDIS was great,” Catherine said, expressing her wish to see more companies get on board with accessible builds.
Metricon, alongside other builders, will soon be building more accessible homes, as a result of the National Construction Code (NCC) coming into effect last week.
Metricon regional manager for Gippsland, Jason MacGregor, said the changes would be included in the price of future builds.
“We feel very privileged to have made this design into a liveable home for Aresti,” Mr MacGregor said.
Source: ABC News.
