Elephant in the Room Name: The idea of “elephant in the room” can be defined as an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed. When creating this company, we all believed this captured thetrue essence of how a person with a disability is “managed” at the moment. All the “issues” and “needs” of the person are addressed often without the person’s wants, desires or views being taken in to account. Often the person will sit there in the room, and not once be asked for their input on what they would like to do or experience in life. The person with a disability is the “elephant in the room”. Our belief is that in order to create an inclusive community and environment, the first step is to ensure that the person with a disability is HEARD, that they are LISTENED TO and that what they want is ACTED UPON. The name inspires a deep passion and commitment in upholding these values.
Our History: Elephant in the Room Training & Consultancy came about over many discussions with the partners, sometimes over coffee and sometimes over a glass of wine! All of us (the partners) have a history of working for Ageing, Disability and Home Care in roles we feel very passionate about. With the ongoing changes to the disability sector, we were deeply concerned about the services that our clients would receive. Our knowledge of the rural and remote areas made us particularly concerned about these clients and families, how were they going to access services? What choice would they truly have?
Over many discussions a plan started to come together, if we were worried about our clients receiving best practice and experienced support, why not start our own company? Every one of us was immediately in agreement, excited about a new venture that would allow us to continue to work in the field that we love, providing a service in a way that we have always seen as possible! Once the idea was out there in the universe, the rest just snowballed from there!
We each bring a range of experience and expertise that is specific to disability. We all live in either a rural or remote area of the Western region, which means we understand the unique set of barriers and opportunities that can arise in these regions and are innovative and flexible in how we can overcome these barriers to meet the needs of our clients and the people that support them.
