“Hello and welcome to Phillip’s World.” This is my parent’s house and this is my flat. And these are my parents. This is my city! This is my girlfriend Vanessa. Hi. And I’m Phillip! “Hi Donkey Donk.” (Mimics Donkey noise) “Hello.” “Roar” A person with autism, they always have this wild imagination, to be truthful. It’s very hard to explain. When I’m by myself and I get really bored, I just think up an idea for a story involving good guys and bad guys and I make this big play using the puppets that I’ve got. It helps me go out into the community and talk to different people about Special Olympics and give them information about it. “Welcome I’m Keith the athlete, and today we’re here to talk about Special Olympics.” “Yeah Special Olympics provides a program of sports training and competitions for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.” Phillip’s got a busy life with all his activities he’s out nearly every night of the week. These are my ribbons that I’ve won over the years with Special Olympics. There are the 1st place ribbons, the 2nd place ribbons, the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th place ribbons, and a disqualification, which I’m not going to tell anyone why that happened. I think Special Olympics is… Oh, Special Olympics has been marvelous and it’s helped him grow. And he’s met so many friends and doing all the sports. It’s given you more confidence. “Phillip’s confidence doesn’t just help with his sport; it’s gotten him involved in all sorts of things.” This is me, I was Hades, Greek is the word. There’s me as the ‘bellboy’ from Elvis Presley in the Hotel of Secrets. Here I am graduating from Otago Polytechnic; I got a Diploma in Computer Science. I’ve got a cool flat at home. But I can’t live with my parents forever. Although there is lots about living on my own that I don’t know. I was hard work for my mum, really hard work. Just seeing the way he was when he was born with being blue, and his limbs wrapped around his head. And when I was born feet first and the (birth) cord was wrapped around my neck so that I couldn’t breathe. Because part of my brain must have been damaged – the cells in my brain they aren’t glued together – what’s that word I’m looking for now? You guys are normal, okay, so maybe I’m confused. As Phillip was growing up, I started to think Phillip is probably autistic, very mixed up, very confused, very frustrated. He didn’t like you to cuddle him. He never made any sounds other than shrieking. Phillip didn’t talk until he was about six (years) and he started to mimic cartoons on TV. And he watched so many cartoons that eventually he could talk like the cartoon characters. When he was little he used to do a lot of talking to his hands. I bought him a set of finger puppets, little ones you could put on your fingers, so when he was talking, and people came to the house and saw him talking, It wasn’t as bizarre as just talking to his hands. And I think it all grew from there. For Phillip’s dad and me, it’s wonderful to see how far Phillip has come. And if you train hard, be a good friend, and listen to your coaches, one day you might get to be a Global Messenger. “Hey isn’t Phillip a Global Messenger?” “Yep.” Part of being a Global Messenger is promoting Special Olympics, and today I’m live on air with Access Radio. This is where Special Olympics is being held in this lovely community building. Radio Host: “Hello listeners. Phillip is here today to talk to us about the Global Messenger Program that he is now a part of.” Phillip: Hi there. What is a Global Messenger, what is the role within Special Olympics? You’re involved in going out in the community and getting everyone involved in Special Olympics. It gives them all the details they need and all the confidence they need to get them involved in Special Olympics. Sounds wonderful. I also hear that you’re off to a Selection Camp soon. It is for the L.A. 2015 NZ Team. That’s right. I’ll be meeting my team mates for the first time and I’m going to be training with them. “The training starts at the Wellington Selection Camp. It’s the first time that many of the athletes will live away from home.” Hello, welcome to our little duvet cabin. This is Steven, say hi. Hi. This is Matthew. Hello. And this is Sam. Hi. It’s just getting use to knowing everyone and not having any fall outs. No fights at the moment. We’ve had our health check with the team doctor, had a uniform fitting, had a photo shoot and we’ve done a swimming session. You alright there Phillip? What I’d like you to do is kick a bit harder because you’re feet are a little too deep, so let’s get your body up, so kick that little bit harder okay on your back. Cool? Phillip: Okay I’ll try.
Coach: That’s all I’m asking. At the end of the weekend I am hoping that they do go back to their coaches and their other athletes in their area and tell them what they’ve achieved over the weekend, how they’ve fixed something in the water, how they were told to fix that something in the water, and then pass it onto their other athletes as well. We are really proud of Phillip he’s done really well. Thanks. What we want from him at the end of the day is just to be like anybody else, to be totally independent of mum and dad, just like any child that you may have. He’s going to need help but we are not always going to be here to offer him that help, so the sooner he gets out there in the real world and learns how to look after himself that better he will be. That’s my opinion anyway. There’s no point leaving him until he’s 50 (years) because he’ll be absolutely “snookered” by then. I’m going to make myself a nice cup of tea. Director: What do you think about living in a flat? I get a nice environment like peace and quiet. I get my own personal space away from my parents. So the question you asked me, why is it hard to go flatting? Well, what to cook, and doing my laundry, making my bed – all of that stuff. I was thinking of flatting with someone actually. I was thinking of going flatting with my girlfriend Vanessa. He talks about going flatting with Vanessa. I think that will be down to Vanessa and her mum isn’t it? And I’ve got nothing against them flatting together, but at the end of the day we know that Phillip likes his own space. My parents think I can’t look after myself. Well, it’s up to me actually if I can look after myself. Well I’m going to try. I’ll prove it to them. This is what your mum and dad is worried about. Yes that’s the part that worries us. That you’ll move in with your girlfriend but you’ll totally ignore her and do your own thing. So you want me to stop doing that then? No, I… I probably will stop doing it if you want me to. No… I’ll give up the Play Station! No, no, no, I’m not saying that. I’m not saying to completely stop your Play Station or whatever. But you’ve just got to realize there’s somebody else there with you. The same as I realize your mum’s there and that’s why I run away all the time… into the garden and have a smoke and do the gardening or whatever. And you go to the beach. Well I go to the beach and drink whiskey, but she doesn’t know because I’m there by myself. They don’t want to be… That’s right. …especially females they do not like to be ignored. Oh dodgy ground. “Phillip is learning a lot about women.” “Ha ha, I think Phillip knows a thing or two already.” Hello Hun. How are you? Good thank you. I bought you these. Oh thank you Hun. You look so beautiful. You look so handsome. It’s really flash to have a girlfriend that can drive a car and I’m a little jealous. Turn right here. Just relax. Watch and keep your eyes on the road. I don’t think he’ll ever drive a car. He might be alright out there on the road but there are always people out there who aren’t. They learn by the book, people with autism. He wouldn’t appreciate varying traffic situations and that would be a problem obviously. But you’re independent as far as transport goes aren’t you Phillip? And he knows how to catch buses. And I know how to walk. And he’s a good walker And he’s a good walker too. I’m off to see my best friend Ryan. He lives by himself. I really want to be like that one day. So, Ryan how’s the flatting going? It’s going fine thank you. I’ve been keeping this place nice and clean. What about the wild parties? We don’t stop at wild parties, loud music, playing board games, talking with our girlfriends and other friends and stuff like that. Do you miss living with your parents? Oh, no I don’t, not at all. I’ve been thinking about going flatting very soon, probably with my girlfriend. Of course. You’re flatting with a girl have you got any advice about that for me? Sure, first thing you have to get to know her really well. Make sure you don’t have a fall out or arguments. If you two have an argument how do you deal with it? Don't just walk away and go to your room. You just tell them how you feel and then it will resolve. “That was good advice from Ryan.” “Maybe you should run this past Vanessa?” How was your day today Hun? Really good baby cakes. Oh that’s good. Babe I’ve been thinking maybe one day you and I should go flatting together? Yeah that would be a good idea Hun. I can’t wait. Yeah well, we have some stuff we need to work on towards that though. Yeah, we do. I’m going to have to learn how to cook and learn how to budget and shop and clean up my flat. Yeah, that’s a good idea Hun. What about you? Probably shopping, cooking, and budgeting. Okay. How do you feel about going flatting with me? Really good. We’re going to have lots of fun together. Are you worried about anything? No I’m not worried about anything. My dad told me that I should be spending less time on my Play Station and spend more time with you. Yeah that’s a good idea. We need to spend more time together. Yeah it’s not going to work out if I do those sorts of things No. We need to make this relationship work. Yes. “Beep beep.” “Honk honk.” “I’ll never be flatting unless you call living in a toy box flatting. I wonder what skills you actually need." Sheppard’s pie. What do you need? I need mince…onions Vanessa’s been dating Phillip for a while and it’s been going pretty good. They just need to spend a lot more time together. They need each other really. We’re not going to be around forever – that’s not a nice thing to say, but they need somebody else in their lives that make them happy and Phillip makes Vanessa happy. And she’s learning living skills like cleaning, that’s part of life, so I’m teaching her to get up in the morning, get your breakfast and just do what you have to do. “Oh that doesn’t sound so bad. I wonder what insights Jo has up her sleeve.” What we want to do is dig underneath all the weeds, loosen all the soil around the roots and then the weeds are easy to pull out. Be careful of the plants. You just want to loosen it because if you move the soil you’ll bury the weeds. It’s very therapeutic weeding because you can just sit here, pull the weeds out, and think about your girlfriend. I wish the plant was my girlfriend though. That’s it good job. Today I’m going to cooking a beef… Goulash, beef goulash. On the packet it says that you use… 500 grams of lean steak, cubed, one medium onion, sliced, two medium potatoes, peeled and cubed. Do you want some help or you’re quite happy? I’m happy doing it myself thank you. Do that in strips about that wide. Mind your fingers. Most of his cooking that he does he does in a microwave. It worries me a bit about an electric cooker because Phillip still can’t concentrate 100%, he might be watching wrestling on TV and have the cooking going and decides to go and watch TV and forget about the cooking. Set it to 20 minutes. Will do. And away she goes. Mother:
I gave up work to look after Phillip. After that I decided that I was going to do Home Play Therapy. And because Phillip didn’t like to hear the sound of the human voice and he loved music, I sang to him and I taught him by song. And he was fascinated by hearing my voice had changed from general talking to a musical sound. And I thought, I’m going to do everything I can to try and break through the barrier. And so, if I see that Phillip has an interest in something then I’ll hone in on it. And so that’s how the swimming came about because he loved water, how the acting has come about. I work at the Donald Beasley Institute. It’s a library that has books on research of people with intellectual disabilities. My job is working in the library putting books away, laminating, spiral binding, photocopying, answering the phones, typing data on the computer. Over the years that Phillip’s been working with us here at the Institute he has absolutely developed, he has engaged with a lot of people. He’s definitely sociable and willing to contribute and enjoys being part of those conversations. They were probably quite difficult for him in the early days and but now he absolutely enjoys that. Hello Paul how are you this morning? I’m good mate, I’m good. I’ve got a couple of reports that need spiral binding and laminating. I can get onto that for you. Thanks. So, the Work Partnerships and the Staff Survey. Phillip: Okay Paul.
Paul: Thanks Phillip. Donald Beasley Institute is working on a huge project about people with intellectual disabilities that have been in trouble with the law and have to go to court and they don’t know what to do. And they can’t have their voices heard so they have to get help. It’s important for people with disabilities to have a voice because they have to have their rights because they can’t support themselves. This is my technical coach Kieran. I have come back from the Selection Camp in Wellington and my coach gave the instructions to Kieran that I need to work on – not to splash and proper diving. At the moment your left hand is splayed out, so we want to have it more in so it’s not like that. But it’s just a little bit more open and a higher elbow and pulling down. I see his challenges as he’s going to have to drop his weight down a little and by doing that he’ll be able to swim faster in the water. But the challenges with that are that you need to increase your exercise and have a cleaner diet. I train about three days a week – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. When I’m swimming the other athletes try to beat me in a race, but I’m going to try and swim as hard as I can so I can beat them in a race. And it proves that I’m a better swimmer than they are! At the end of a race I may look tired and worn out, but it’s worth it though, worth all the achievements I’ve done. This is the Special Olympics swimming squad. This is the physio pool where all the Special Olympians go to do their training. And tonight I’m going to teach Graham how to kick with the board, freestyle, probably drills and breaststroke. The first thing I want you to do is kick all the way over there and back again without stopping. Okay, let’s kick together. Very good Graham. Show me how you do breaststroke. I’ll watch. I love coaching because it builds confidence in me and makes me stronger. Sometimes it’s very difficult when they don’t listen to me. Well done. “Gee my life looks boring compared to Phillips’. I get the feeling that he’s far too busy to go flatting with Vanessa.” This is a nice walk isn’t it Hun? Yeah it’s a lovely walk babe. Nice day for a nice beach walk. Yeah. Lovely sunset. Look at those waves over there. Awesome waves. So what have you been up to? Not a lot just helping my mum around the house. Yeah I’ve been helping out my mum and dad. What a lovely day, sitting on the beach with you Hun. Yeah, lovely day too babe cakes. I’d like to move in with my girlfriend, but for now we’re just going to take our time getting to know each other. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Yeah. The more time we spend together the more time we have of the bright future. “The end.”
