Participation in recreational activities gives meaning to the lives of people of all ages. For 3.4 million Australians – some 25-30% of our population – recreational fishing is a favoured activity. Like many recreational activities, the benefits of fishing are both psychological and physiological, providing the participant with the opportunity to rest, relax, enjoy nature and socialise in the outdoors. For people with a disability, it is especially important that their disability does not stop them from participating in their favourite recreational activities. TADVIC Cooperative, which custom makes equipment for people with disabilities, successfully applied to the Trust for a grant of $7,500 to develop 10 prototypes of a one-handed fishing kit.
Over the years, TADVIC, through its technical volunteers, have assisted many people with disabilities to continue fishing with a variety of different equipment pieces. Over half of these keen fishing fans have the use of only one arm through injury or illness, which makes fishing with conventional gear impossible. However, developing a device from scratch each time is not an effective use of a volunteer’s time. The grant will enable TADVIC to set up a team of volunteers to work with a therapist to develop standardised prototypes of one-armed fishing kits which can be adapted to meet individual needs.
There are several tasks in the process of fishing which are impossible for someone with the use of only one arm to perform unaided including: holding the rod, threading and tying the fishing hook to the line, attaching bait, reeling in and casting out the line, and removing the hook from the fish. The kit will provide the means for the person to carry out these tasks alone. Ten prototypes will be stored with TADVIC’s central office and will be available for adaptation to meet a person’s individual needs if required.
The Trust is proud to announce its first Partnership grant under our new Grants policy. A total of $600,000 over three years has been gifted to the Royal Children’s Hospital for groundbreaking research led by Professor Andrew Sinclair into the development of a diagnostic platform for children with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD). The ultimate aim is for this to lead to the development of a rapid, cost effective and flexible platform for diagnosing a range of genetic disorders. Up to 5% of children are born with a significant genetic disorder. These disorders have a significant lifelong impact on the affected individual and their families, and society.
Instead of trying to develop a diagnostic platform for a range of conditions, the researchers will focus on a detailed analysis of DSD using Targeted Diagnostic Sequencing in order to test the efficacy of this approach for broader application. DSDs are surprisingly common, ranging from sex reversal to genital anomalies (1 in 4,500) to hypospadias (misplacement of the urethral opening) which affects an astonishing 1 in 135 boys, most of whom require surgery.
In many cases for doctors, even though they may know a particular disorder has a genetic origin, it is not possible to identify the specific causative gene. This means it is often difficult to diagnose the genetic disorder and pinpoint where the normal developmental process has gone wrong. As a consequence, the treating doctor is essentially “flying blind” in terms of best clinical management – interventions, therapies, medication or counselling – for a patient with an undiagnosed genetic disorder. Clinical management would dramatically improve if such a diagnostic platform can be developed. The research is a collaborative project between the Royal Children’s Hospital and Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.
The Trust has awarded $1m from the HMS Bushfires Grants fund to the Sustainable Gardening Australia Foundation (SGA). The grant, to be spread over three years, seeks to contribute to the recovery process of bushfire-affected communities by bringing the community together to address the impact of the fires on their local environment, through gardening. It will equip local groups and landowners with the skills, support and equipment to be able to work and sustain their communities most effectively and, in turn, reinvigorate their land as a community in a cohesive manner.
Aware that many of the communities affected by Black Saturday and the other 2009 bushfires face a difficult journey to re-establish and re-focus themselves, SGA’s project has three points of access to it that reflect the differing needs of individual communities and their ability, at this point in time, to engage in the project.
The project comprises three elements: to establish Communal Demonstration Gardens in four different bushfire-affected communities; to offer another six different bushfire-affected communities the opportunity to form local POD (produce, organic and diverse) Gardening Groups; and thirdly, to produce a free “how to” manual, based on the experience of trialling the Communal Demonstration Gardens which will document the processes and pitfalls of establishing these model gardens from scratch. This publication will be available to all communities across Victoria, not just those affected by bushfire.
The project contains a number of interrelated goals: integration of psychological, social and environmental outcomes for community members affected by bushfires; the development of local skills, competencies and knowledge; and an opportunity for community members to come together and contribute to a common community project and support each other as individual landowners.
Communal Demonstration Gardens differ from community gardens in that, unlike community gardens where a limited number of people are provided with plots, thereby excluding others from participation, the Communal Demonstration Garden model provides a garden that is open to all the community to use on an as-needs basis as a learning resource and a place to meet and connect with others. Some may contribute on a regular weekly basis, such as retired community members, others such as school groups may use the garden periodically. Each will contribute time according to their capacity. The community will decide for themselves what happens to the produce from the garden.
SGA’s POD Gardening Groups aim to connect neighbours together and strengthen community. People gather to meet, talk, learn and grow food, to share seeds, tools and muscle in each other’s gardens. The project is structured to create self-sustaining groups of neighbours who work together and support each other in growing produce sustainably in their backyards.
For further information about the work of Sustainable Gardening Australia, visit their website www.sgaonline.org.au