Episode #04 Harry Fortey

Speaker 1  0:01  
Disability failure, disability,

Speaker 2  0:14  
y'all. I was got

Mel Harrison  0:40  
today's session for Disability Fail 101 I have the fabulous Harry in the room, and Harry is a maid of mine, but also is my personal trainer. He's a support worker for people that have disability. Welcome, Harry.

Speaker 3  0:57  
Hey, Mel, how are you today?

Mel Harrison  0:58  
Not too bad. Would you like to tell people a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 3  1:02  
Sure. Be doing PT for people with disability for six years now. Started in a nursing home, which was really fun till I accidentally lost one of the people in the nursing home, and we found him in a pub down the road. And then when we went to grab him, we didn't have money to pay for it, so then we had to run back and get money, so that's where it started. Didn't last too long in the nursing home, but then I fell in love working for people with disability in an NDIS gym, and that's when I really fell in love with the gig, and the gift of helping people for a job was really good.

Mel Harrison  1:36  
And so when you are doing the work that you do, what is it that really makes you want to educate people around like disability and disability fails out there?

Speaker 3  1:48  
Feel like for experience, just I've started a little Instagram page just to try to show that more just how capable, and if you just give them a chance and give them opportunity, you'll be amazed how much they can do, and how much good fun you can have, like I could go on for days with some of my clients, the laughs I have, and they catch me off guard all the time. Like, can you give

Mel Harrison  2:11  
me an example?

Speaker 3  2:12  
I got a client, and he's got Down syndrome, and first time meeting every new staff member at the company I work for, Bright Wellness, he'll trick him, he'll play like he doesn't really know how to use the iPad at McDonald's, and this is when he had a card, he doesn't have a card anymore, but I've never seen someone order so many chocolate McFlurry, so he had about four of them one go, so I had to have a couple of them too, but yeah, Ricky's one of my all-time favorites, and could have stories today, so that'd be one,

Mel Harrison  2:41  
and isn't he really good at playing basketball?

Speaker 3  2:45  
Yes, he's got many talents. He is a gun at basketball. I've never seen him pass the ball, though, so we're working on it. But doesn't pass to Harry, and if Harry doesn't pass to him, I'm in trouble. And then bowling.. uh, we've now.. I've got on to bowling. I haven't done bowling in like 10 years, and this week we've been going, and he's beat me a lot.

Mel Harrison  3:04  
Next question, How does that make you feel?

Speaker 3  3:10  
Yeah, it's good. Humbles me, Ricky. He humbles me, keeps me on my toes. That's another thing I can go on a deep dive, but with Ricky, it's just that I don't know that weird care I have now. I think I told you once when we're training, Ricky's weight's a bit of an issue, so we're trying to do exercise, but in a fun way. He doesn't like doing the gym, so we've got basketball, bowling, and now he's playing football, which is just great ways to get him moving and hopefully help with that. But yeah, I think I told you a story when we pulled up to the lights, and now I'm really protective of my clients, and I shouldn't, because I was that immature kid at the same time, but a bunch of school kids stopped to the light, and I can see one look, and Ricky's, he's, he's not noticing them, so he's in his own world, but I could see one look, and then I could see a couple looking, pointing, and laughing, and immature Harry, which is bad at my point, I got a little bit annoyed, and when Ricky wasn't looking, I gave the kids the rude finger, so I apologize, because yeah, we're all immature kids one day, but feel like just showing that when you're in about, and if you haven't seen someone with disability, instead of just looking, or you know, just come and saying hi, Ricky's the nicest guy, he would love that too, learning just to be curious, it's fine to be curious and learn, but yeah, say hi,

Mel Harrison  4:23  
exactly. And so, just going on from that, what do you think some of the assumptions that are out there towards people with disability, particularly like you work with a lot of people that have intellectual disability and varying muscle conditions and all that sort of stuff.

Speaker 3  4:39  
I'll keep going on Ricky, for example, because I just was with him, but when I first met Ricky, it was hard to understand what he was saying, but now I just can understand him. It's a weird connection, just from time and understanding, but he's just so switched on, like me, I'm dyslexic, diagnosed in ADHD, so names, when I first meet people, I'm really bad at remembering names, but really. Key every time he knows when, because we do change our time, slots of you would know we change you a lot. I'm sorry. 130 Harry, and he knows, and he remembers the next week, and a name he'll remember the names of all his carers at his house, all the PTs at Bright Wellness, and all his support workers' names. So just so capable, more capable than me. I need help.

Mel Harrison  5:22  
I always think about you and your name, and the first time I met you, where we went and had a coffee together across the road.

Speaker 3  5:30  
Yeah, I was quite nervous, and I was like, we're just going for coffee, so that eased the nerves. And then Mel was shouting me a coffee, so I was like, oh, she's a legend, this is going to be all good. And then out comes like I thought it was a piccolo because I asked for a cappuccino. Anyway, first sip, I was like, this is the worst cappuccino, or whatever it is, but it wasn't a cappuccino, it was a what was it, Mel,

Mel Harrison  5:51  
a puppuccino?

Speaker 3  5:52  
Yes,

Mel Harrison  5:52  
because I asked for a coffee for Harry, and they thought it was for my dog, name is Harry, but

Speaker 3  6:00  
I didn't want to be rude.

Mel Harrison  6:01  
Why are you drinking a dog drink?

Speaker 3  6:05  
Yeah, I didn't want to be rude, and my guts were feeling a bit.. how you going? So, but didn't want to be rude, but it was a good time.

Mel Harrison  6:13  
That was a good disability. Why? Be getting my

Speaker 3  6:15  
dog one of those? I reckon that's a scam. And yeah, it was gross.

Mel Harrison  6:20  
It looked gross, and I was very impressed that you were taking a job so seriously.

Speaker 3  6:27  
Thank you. I do it again, only for you.

Mel Harrison  6:30  
Exactly, what are some disability fails you've seen over the years?

Speaker 3  6:35  
Back in my nursing home days, there was a client, and he just didn't like men, and the poor guy, I got told that his name was multiple names. Long story short, I got told he passed away, unfortunately. And then I went into his room, because we had the physio equipment to collect, and I was shocked when his body was still there, but there was the same name, different guy, and he was just asleep, but I was horrified, thinking it was someone that was deceased still there, but no, he was just having a good sleep. That was a bit interesting, because the next day I seen walking around, I was like, "Oh, what's going on with my brain, Harry? There's been lots of those. That was that was a pretty big one.

Mel Harrison  7:18  
What do you think some of the barriers out there for people with disability, so particularly with the work that you do, because you've done the paramedic stuff as well, and

Speaker 3  7:29  
you said it best. Actually, it's been out at listen, which I'm terrible at, but you said to me last week, your wrist is a bit sore lately. We're trying to get to the bottom of that, but because I'm thinking I'm some cool Muay Thai fighter now, which I'm not, but I was teaching you a specific way to punch that I got taught in Muay Thai, but then you gave me the feedback that you might punch a certain way because that's the best way that suits you, and then to link that to you said about paramedics is like sometimes when you reach someone, say they hurt their collarbone,

Mel Harrison  7:57  
they'll

Speaker 3  7:58  
be in the best position, so you might have read a book where it has to be in this position, but no. So don't try to change the book if that's the way they do it, case by case. But I like to push them, try to make them go further, like I know sometimes for Mel, if you're not going hard enough, I want to push you hard. I know, I know when you're on, and when you're on, I want to maximize those days when I don't

Mel Harrison  8:18  
want to do it. Yeah, then I adapt to that? Well, you tell me, but yeah,

Speaker 3  8:25  
once you get to know them, it's building relationship, and it's they won't remember what you did for them, but they'll remember how you made them feel. So, I think that's more important. I used to work in a bit of a not clinical, but it was a real specific just training, no support work to it. No relationship building. You actually, I won't say the names, but you'd get more in trouble if you had that relationship, which I understand. But I love that. Originally, I came in for the clinical skills. I love anatomy, physiology, learning all about the body, but then I way more important was building relationships and made it feel like now home, a safe space.

Mel Harrison  9:00  
So, what got you into doing that in the first place? Because I can hear that you're really passionate around working with people with disability, and you're wanting to help build that community for people, so not just yourself, but you're also building the community within the community.

Speaker 3  9:16  
Mum and Dad, I would say, I'd give them definitely. Dad's a doctor, and a very good, caring doctor. I've met his friends, they're all lovely, but there are some that go the real private money wise. Well, my dad's always been pretty good, being like the bulk billing. And then Mum, and she wouldn't mind me sharing, like she lives with MS, and she also lives with bipolar disorder. So I think seeing that, and how strong she was, and then how she's devoted her whole life, and now she works in Lifeline, Dad helping, going overseas when there was natural disasters, and doing the volunteer stuff over there. I think growing up, seeing that I used to sneak on Dad's computer, and I was pretty gnarly, but it was like after a natural disaster, you'd see all the photos, I wasn't meant to be seen, but it was like all the trauma from. Um, I think it was a tsunami in Thailand.

Mel Harrison  10:02  
I find that fascinating, because I didn't know that about you. How do you think you could use that information to help other people in the community when they're working with people with disability?

Speaker 3  10:15  
I think

Mel Harrison  10:16  
change their perceptions on

Speaker 3  10:18  
it depends on the goals, not my goals, the client goals, putting that first. Nothing's just in a linear, like you do this to this, it's got to be a big holistic approach. Mental health, that's massive in the disability community, that's why I'll say it goes together. So, it's just we do an hour or maybe two hours, so it's like, yeah, you might be getting them stronger or better at the balance coordination, whatever, but if you're not making them feel better too, and having that trust, just treating everyone like a human, and just trying to have fun. I don't know, I probably pushed the boundaries with my banter, and, but I'm trying to make everything fun, which probably got me in trouble in the past. But now I think I found a good balance between the two, and I will give a good shout out to Bright Wellness and to Ben. I've learned I can only work for someone I respect, and I definitely respect Ben's. I'm pretty happy that I found his business.

Mel Harrison  11:06  
Yeah, Ben is a legend of a guy and his wife, Josie. So, shout out to her as well. She did the last shit box rally with me, went across from Port Douglas to Adelaide in a shit box,

Speaker 3  11:19  
so my car, basically. basically,

Mel Harrison  11:22  
and we made it. We only just made it. The car was pretty much dying as we were crossing the line. What do you think some ways that people could better communicate with people with disability, particularly if they're non-verbal or they've got sensory issues or any of that

Speaker 3  11:41  
in the gym in the past? I've cut out hand prints, say we don't have a push up, I put down the two hand prints, and then they'll just put both hands, and same with the feet, I've cut out a cardboard thing, they can see where to put their feet, so just being creative, and then constantly just thinking of new ideas. One of my clients, he'll copy everything I do, so sometimes I'm explaining it, and then when he goes to do it, he's still looking to see what I'm doing, so it's doing it together, getting that trust. I've said that word along a lot of times today, but I feel like it's a massive thing. Yeah, you got to be a bit hands on helping them, positioning manually, getting them the right position, linking back to everyone moves a different way, everyone's got a disability, everyone's disability is different. So, what might work for one person might not work for the other. So, I think I love that too, because it's been creative on the sport, but everyone can do it, like everyone's just got a different way to do it. Doesn't mean you can't,

Mel Harrison  12:34  
yeah. And I think that's where the disability fails come in, is when people think it can't change, so it doesn't happen, or you know, people aren't able to access something because it's like, oh, it's in the too hard basket, but like you said, everyone's got their different needs, regardless of whether they have a disability or not.

Speaker 3  12:52  
Yeah, exactly.

Mel Harrison  12:54  
What do you think some of the assumptions out there about disability,

Speaker 3  12:58  
just that they're not capable of doing day to day tasks, that's what I see the most common people just underestimating their abilities. It might look awkward, but that's the way they've done it every day. Being curious is fine too. If you're not in the industry and you haven't seen it, it's a human nature to look, make a relationship, talk to anyone like you would. I'm from the Central Coast, we don't see too many homeless people. I have some clients around Bondar Junction, and just saying hello every time, no matter what, and you'd be surprised, like they might be having it seems like a bit of a mental episode, but then they talk to you, and you actually remember you next time. So now I've got a lady that I say hello to every time,

Mel Harrison  13:34  
and do you remember her name?

Speaker 3  13:35  
Haven't got the name yet, all

Mel Harrison  13:38  
you have, and you don't remember

Speaker 3  13:39  
both. What's your name? Where am I? Where's my dog?

Mel Harrison  13:45  
Speaking of that, when I wanted to get into particular seating at a concert the other week, and I didn't register to get into a seating, so the guy had his clipboard, and I was like, my name's not going to be on it, and he asked me, name, and like, I don't remember. I got up, that was my.. that's my disability. My youth joy was

Speaker 3  14:06  
jumping into festivals, and then Mimamate did it. I think I told you once, and then the security guy was just walking past, but we thought that was he's coming after us, so he sprints out, jump over portable toilets, and then sprint away, just to find out it was a free festival, and we didn't do any of that. That was my youth,

Mel Harrison  14:22  
and Alan got much smarter since

Speaker 3  14:24  
I've gone backwards. Yeah, gone

Mel Harrison  14:25  
backwards in the afternoons. Other disability fails you can think of,

Speaker 3  14:31  
you know, me. I've wing this, so on the spot I got a good one at the old gym. I used to work out, he was a young boy, and he was a funny.. I loved him. He was the best. It was on a Friday Arbo, and I won't lie, everyone's the same. A Friday Ivo, it was the last climb the day, but I was as ready to go, because for an hour straight he loved boxing. This guy would just put on the gloves and try to take my head off. And then I used to have a good mate called Stan, stand the man, if he's ever listening to this, I go, oh. Go get Stan, just jokingly I didn't think he would, and he went up and he just smacked him as hard as he could, like no joke, full off, and I, oh, it was so my fault, that's another example of my immaturity, but he legit pretty much knocked out my mate, and then blame me, which was my fault, didn't do that again.

Mel Harrison  15:22  
So, how come you tell me off when I don't want to do the slips?

Speaker 3  15:26  
Yeah, no, that's why I gotta teach Stan the slip. So, I was fine, I didn't cut one, but I don't know if his teeth is. Yeah, he's not smiling the same, hasn't had a girlfriend since, so I don't know what's going on. Sorry, Stan.

Mel Harrison  15:38  
Oh, you poor mate, you're poor mate. Yeah,

Speaker 3  15:41  
good fella.

Mel Harrison  15:42  
Other question I do have for you: if you could actually tell people something that would help people to understand about disability fails and working with people with disability, or just communicating, or hanging out with people, what would you want them to know?

Speaker 3  16:01  
Well, I'm stoked. Like, I won't lie. High school, I'd say I was a bit immature. Had the immature group friends, but now I found my people. They're learning from my Instagram page, which all I wanted is not meant for making any money. Now, Saturday, I forget the organization, Kelp Kids with Disability Surf.

Mel Harrison  16:18  
Okay, my

Speaker 3  16:18  
mate would have never, or he might have. That's but him reaching out and doing that and organizing with all our mates,

Mel Harrison  16:24  
yeah, because

Speaker 3  16:24  
he's recently moved from Central Coast to Northern Beaches, so now we're going to do a stay of a Saturday night, we're going to go and help kids or anyone, any all ages, try to learn to surf or just water safety and have the chance,

Mel Harrison  16:36  
so the ocean hero is Manly,

Speaker 3  16:38  
yeah, so shout out to Ocean Heroes Manly,

Mel Harrison  16:40  
that's pretty cool, and your Instagram,

Speaker 3  16:43  
it's called I Am Capable point four zero, because my last name is 40, and it's turned into hobby. I'm terrible editing, but I'm trying my best, trying to tell people stories from their own words.

Mel Harrison  16:55  
Yep,

Speaker 3  16:55  
and then just, yeah, spread light and show everyone's like, "Oh my god, that's amazing, I didn't think someone living with could do that, and I'm like, oh, why not? Like, get your head, give him a crack, that's all. Anyone living on this earth, just have a crack, and that's all you can do.

Mel Harrison  17:08  
And I guess that's the big thing about disability fail is when people actually think that you can't, yeah, just because you've got a disability,

Speaker 3  17:15  
exactly. Yeah, safety comes first, but I like to push the boundaries, like, even Mel, I want you rock climbing again one day before on the mat. Harry will catch you if he's not on his phone or something.

Mel Harrison  17:28  
Excellent, even though she'd like to add.

Speaker 3  17:31  
I am grateful for the life I've had, and maturing and learning from a mum, and she hides it so well. I will add, like, the MS. Just a big shout out, I did lose a client to MS, pretty tough at the end of last year. Rest in peace, Rand, and be kind, everyone. And yeah, thanks for having me on, Mill.

Mel Harrison  17:46  
Thank you. You're alleged. And finally we have The Wings by Blind Mike, where I complain, so you don't have to.

Speaker 4  18:02  
This week's victim of the whinge residents who live near pubs, all right. So, let's be specific here. I'm talking about people who've lived near a pub or do live near a pub that has been there long before they moved in, mainly you yuppies and gentrified, you know, frequenters of artisan cheese and coffees and drinks and chocolate and all that, you know, vanilla bullshit type of things. Okay, smug. So it has come to my attention, as to many other people in the music scene and the publican scene, that a lot of these venues cannot put on live music events anymore, especially on a Friday night or a Saturday night or a weekend, because you smug, inarticulate eyesore people complain about the noise. Well, let me tell you, those venues have been there long since you moved in with your Priuses, your hybrids, and your pro green XYZ. We're not here to be political, but you know, Blind Mike calls it how he hears it slash sees it, and those pubs are the breeding ground slash grass roots of a lot of your favorite bands that you listen to, you bunch of boomers. Okay, we're talking Cold Chisel, we're talking the Angels, even ACDC, Hunters and Collectors, Silver Chair. I digress. Although the music that you people still listen to, so my generation and the generation that's coming next, we need that to play, but no, you need to be able to somewhat sleep on a Friday night. Okay, first of all, you bastards are lucky enough to be able to get into the housing market. Not only have you taken that from us, you're taking our music too. Okay, you knew that these venues were there long before you moved in. Okay, the fact that you have the audacity to go to the council and get those venues to stop playing live music on a Friday night, shameless. Were you not one? Teenager, we're not once in your 20s, you were, and you probably did a lot worse things than what we did. So, now a lot of these venues do not have music anymore, and they just cater to the pokies. So, your selfishness is the reason why not only we have little nightlife in Sydney, it's just starting to come back, but why a lot of the bands are either giving up on music, or they're gonna have to go interstate. All right, think of your kids' generation. Don't you want them to enjoy what you had? No, no, no. Got to be up early for my brunch and my sourdough toast next morning. Well, you know what? Fuck you. Seriously, you knew what you were doing when you bought into those places, so stop complaining. Okay? Let these people play music. You have enough money, get noise canceling headphones. I have one as well, and it wasn't that expensive. 100 bucks, put them on, shut up, and go to bed. You got a better winch than that? Let me know down below. Remember, blind Mike, don't need sight to see that residents suck.

Mel Harrison  21:02  
Thanks for listening to Disability Fail 101 with me, your host Mel Harrison. Tune in next time for another episode. In the meantime, you can find us on Facebook and on Instagram at Disability Fail 101 This episode was recorded at Impact Institute with production support from radio to RPH. The program was made possible with support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. If you'd like to hear the podcast version, head over to Disability Vale 101 on your favorite podcast app.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai