{"id":1545,"date":"2022-12-16T09:21:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T22:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/?p=1545"},"modified":"2022-12-16T09:21:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T22:21:23","slug":"being-a-health-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/2022\/12\/16\/being-a-health-ambassador\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a Health Ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Caitlin Woolley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Caitlin Woolley. I work as the Tasmanian Health Ambassador for Down Syndrome Australia. It matters that people with a disability be included in their community, their employment and in health. This is the future I want for Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for my job. I want to use my strengths and contribute in the workplace. I\u2019ve learned new skills and confidence. I have made friends and like helping others with my work. We need more support and training for people with disabilities and more employers offering jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People with disabilities need equal healthcare. I teach healthcare workers inclusive communication to better care for people with a disability.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes healthcare workers don\u2019t take the time to be nice to me or chat – they just talk to my mum and dad.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kindness and clear communication from healthcare workers is important because I want them to care about me. If healthcare workers are not kind but are serious, rushing or not actually talking to me then I will feel sad. When I am sad, I don\u2019t talk as much and you won\u2019t find out how I feel. If I think you like talking to me I will listen better to things you tell me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also important that healthcare workers take time to communicate so I understand. When you explain procedures or tests and why I need them, I feel calm. If you take time to explain any results or treatment, I can look after my own health better. I can understand a lot of what you say, so slow down and talk to me. Find out if I understand what you are telling me and if I am not sure then my parent or support person can help. You can ask me if I have any questions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to be included in my community and not left out just because I have a disability. I have talents, ideas and dreams just like other people. I don\u2019t want to feel left out. When I am studying, at my work, volunteering, at church, doing activities in the community, or even with my friends and family, then I want to be part of that group.  <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Being part of the group makes me feel happy and that I am important. It helps me have fun, make good friends, use my skills and feel that I belong. I don\u2019t want people to make assumptions about what I can and can\u2019t do. They should let me try activities and let me have a say. If I am not included then I feel sad, upset and frustrated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each person with Down syndrome is an individual and we all need to feel safe, happy and respected. Like most people with Down syndrome, I see lots of medical specialists in my life so it really helps if you can take your time and think about how you communicate with me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full article is available in the following formats to download:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Health Ambassador Caitlin Woolley shares why inclusion is so important to people with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1534,1325,1385,550,722,813","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,9,26,45,151,150,21,28,116],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-disability","tag-down-syndrome","tag-employment","tag-health","tag-health-ambassador","tag-healthcare","tag-inclusion","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-job"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1545"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}