Fiona and Darren live and understand disability. Fiona had a stroke in 2003 which paralysed the left side of her body. Through many rehabilitation services like physiotherapy, occupational therapy, neuro psychology, she has learnt to walk again, however her left arm does not function. Darren is there as the carer to do all the daily two-handed tasks and the difficult and awkward jobs. Fiona has many specialty devises and mobility supports around the house and in her car to give her independence and quality of life. Fiona understands the NDIS participant experience from being a self-managed NDIS participant since 2020.
We have extensive experience in administering public monies. Each of us bring integrity, responsibility, accountability, and innovation to delivering community services.
Fiona has produced reports for Senate estimates, has led a team of auditors, studied, and implemented change management & has just completed a Certificate IV in Bookkeeping & Accounting & will be continuing to complete Associate Diploma of Accounting.
Darren’s mission is to help those with disability get the most of out of their lives. Living with a disabled person, he knows they can do a lot for themselves with the right support. They just do it differently.
Darren’s career in Information Technology has been about making jobs easier by using technology and has done so for almost 20 years. He applies the same approach to those living with a disability, ‘How can I make their lives easier and remove barriers?’
Testimonials & Affiliations
Fiona is a Stroke Safe ambassador and presents the Stroke Safe message to groups throughout Victoria. Pre COVID these were face to face presentations before moving online through the pandemic. As well as the preventive message, Fiona is normalizing disability in the community and demonstrating what people with disability can do with opportunity and support.
Fiona has also been involved in several research projects focusing on Stroke Recovery with:
- Deakin University -Burwood campus, as a test subject
- Monash University – Clayton campus, as a contributor
- Melbourne University, as a Consumer Advisory Group member,
“Fiona has been an active member of the Future Health Today Consumer Advisory Committee based at the Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne since 2020. Fiona is a passionate consumer advocate and brings enthusiasm to her role on the Consumer Advisory Committee. As a young stroke survivor living in regional Victoria, Fiona understands the complexity of navigating both the primary and specialist healthcare services. Fiona uses her experience to provide timely feedback on the Future Health Today program.” FHT Consumer Advisory Committee Testimonial – Rita McMorrow