Six and a Half Years on a Dunghill: Life in Specialist Disability Accommodation

Peter Gibilisco's aim in this book is to affirm vital principles that must be better understood and implemented if the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is going to be of benefit and fulfill its mandate; so that care doesn't become careless. He wants to encourage people to keep on pushing the case for disability justice! His book is aimed at those providing a service to people with disabilities with high support needs. He wants to address all who are involved in disability care: professionals, social workers and especially those managing facilities that look after communities and groups of people. Peter is giving himself a wide focus in this book, and his aim is not to win a fight, but to present a case.

Professional Reviews:
"Peter Gibilisco writes of his experience living with a disability and fighting for his rights. It is a remarkable insight into the frustrations of dealing with bureaucracies for those with disabilities. Peter describes his experiences and his views on how the lives of those with a disability can be improved by changing processes and removing barriers."
- Prof. Martin Delatycki, Med. Dir., Victorian Clinical Genetics Services, Dir. Friedreich Ataxia Clinic, Monash Medical Centre, Co-Dir., Murdoch Children's Research Institute

"This book will strike a chord with people who have disabilities everywhere, especially those with severe physical disabilities living in shared supported accommodation facilities. With great intelligence and integrity it describes the mental torture associated with a disintegration of control and individuality worsened by factors as fundamental as a lack of empathy and continuity in the caring relationship. It gives voice to serious shortcomings in a system that is failing many in the provision of truly individualised care."
- Jenny Williams, BA BSW MSW, Social Worker, Friedreich Ataxia Clinic, Monash Medical Centre

"This book is another significant contribution from Dr Peter Gibilisco to the ongoing struggle for social, political and economic justice in the context of people with disability. Mobilising a sociological worldview, Peter Gibilisco draws on his personal experiences, as well as the experiences and insights of others, to highlight profound policy and structural challenges and constraints in the disability sector, and in society more broadly, that impact negatively on people with disability. At the same time, he provides important insights into pathways forward, based on a strong conception of the need to create an inclusive society. In particular, he highlights the importance of action around synergy, altruism, passion, empathy and pragmatism as providing a means of moving towards a more socially just and inclusive society. I recommend this important book authored by Dr Peter Gibilisco to all people interested in the struggle to create a socially, politically and economically just society."
- Prof. Tim Marjoribanks, Assoc. Dean (Research and Technology) Faculty of Business and Law Swinburne University of Technology

"Written with clarity and first-hand insight, this book tackles some incredibly important challenges for people living with disability."
- Adam Vogel, Assoc. Prof., Centre for Neuroscience of Speech, The Univ. of Melbourne

About the Author:
Dr. Peter Gibilisco, BA B Bus, MA (Mon'h), PhD (Melb) is 56 years old, has Friedreich's Ataxia, a progressive condition that left him confined to a wheelchair, with slurred speech, to name a few inherent challenges. Despite this he has shown a command of different abilities, succeeding in a PhD at the University of Melbourne, where he researches as an (Honorary) Fellow.