Ability SDA provides specialised homes for Australians living with a disability

Paul and Angie Simmons had spent 14 years in the aged care industry, owning and managing several retirement villages in Sydney, when they were approached to build accommodation for a disability support organisation.

The chance encounter set them on a trajectory that would completely change their business.

“Once we started looking into it, we were so excited; we completely changed the direction of our business, and we moved completely out of aged care and 100 per cent into supporting the disability sector,” Paul Simmons says.

The pair established Ability SDA Specialist Disability Accommodation in 2016 and haven’t looked back. “It’s a shift from building beautiful spaces for people toward the end of their life, to building beautiful spaces for all of life for people,” he says.

The family-owned business specialises in building high-quality housing for Australians with disabilities. It’s a game-changer for the industry where, for too long, many people have had to live in accommodation facilities not adequately suited to their specialised needs.

The couple saw the need and demand for such housing, and set to work collaborating with occupational therapists and top accessibility consultants to deliver the high quality, functional homes.

“A lot of buildings are built without accessibility in mind … it’s standard practice to put steps, to put hobs, to build with features that make it difficult for a person to navigate in a wheelchair and that automatically creates a huge gap,” Simmons says. 

“What we’ve done is, we’ve said, ‘right, nowhere in any of our buildings will there be a hob into a bathroom, there will be no steps anywhere; there will be big hallways and wide doorways so we’re straight away building this environment that is so easy to navigate.

“When you’re designing a building for a person with a disability, you can’t scrimp on space. We have to deliver 85 to 90-square-metre, two-bedroom apartments. Once you create that space, everything flows, everything feels much nicer in the apartment.”

Not only are the abodes modern and spacious, they’re centrally located with access to amenities and services, and they can be customised to suit a particular individual’s requirements.

They’re fitted with smart technology with voice-activated control to turn on lights and airconditioning and open doors and blinds, so there’s no flicking of switches or pulling of cords, which for someone in a wheelchair who doesn’t have the use of their arms is a real challenge.

There are height-adjustable kitchen benches, ceiling hoists in the bedroom and hands-free lift operation for access to and from the building. Each of the custom apartments is wired back to an on-site office that provides 24-hour staff assistance.

“[Residents have] got the beauty of independence where they can control all of these things in their own home, and their home works for them, but if something goes wrong they’ve got the ability to press a button and it goes back to that office and someone will be there within 30 or 40 seconds,” Simmons says.

Ability SDA have so far built two apartment developments in Sydney’s Villawood and Guildford and two in Gosford that include specialist disability accommodation.

Forty-five apartments in total have been specially designed and built for those with significant physical impairment. Another is planned for Townsville in 2021 which will include 12 specialised apartments.

Thanks to vital NDIS funding, the long-term rentals are now more affordable to those who meet the eligibility criteria.

When 68-year-old Alan Williams moved into his new Ability SDA apartment in Gosford Central about eight weeks ago, he says he felt blessed.

Left a paraplegic after an accident 21 years ago, Williams uses a wheelchair to get around. 

“It’s so overwhelming – it’s got all the assistive technology that I’ve never had in my life. It’s a home, and it’s my home.”

Williams was living in emergency housing in Muswellbrook, NSW for eight years, in a two-bedroom apartment that was not wheelchair-friendly and describes the living conditions as “downright dangerous”.  

He recalls the years when he would have to roll from the bed and fall straight to the floor because the house wasn’t equipped with the facilities he needed.

His carer, Jenna Evans, would have to pick him up off the floor and put him in his wheelchair. “It was really tough, but here, I’ve got the lifter in my bedroom,” he says.

“I’ve got a beautiful open-plan apartment with two bedrooms. I’ve got an overhead hoist which I’ve never had before. I’ve got a beautiful, big kitchen that’s set at the right heights for me, and I’m on the 11th floor – I get a magic view.”

For residents to be able to live in bright, modern accommodation that is specifically suited to them is literally life-changing.

Living in an Ability SDA apartment means residents have access to all high support needs and facilities, long sought-after independence and a thriving community and engagement – something that many of the residents have never been able to experience before.

“I’ve had five life-changing events in my life,” Williams says.

“The first three are the births of my children – Leigh, Patrick and Jazmyn; the next is my accident; but without fail the best and the biggest and most life-changing was when I moved from the ghettoes to this penthouse – I haven’t looked back. I actually love myself again.”

Williams has organised weekly meet and greets on the rooftop terrace, not just for disabled residents, but all residents to get to know each other. He says it’s good for the other residents in wheelchairs to socialise. 

“I tend to help them out as much as I can and keep them positive.”

“The feedback is just amazing across the board,” Simmons says.

“Quite a few people say, ‘My mental health is so much better in my new apartment because everything was a challenge prior’. They’re still facing a lot of challenges, but when their built environment is so much easier for them, they just love being home.”