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I'm Dorothy and I live at Common Ground in Brisbane.
I've got what you call spinocrapiosis, that's my name for it.
What it is scoliosis, osteoporosis, spondolosis
nerve degeneration. They told me I'd never walk again
took me 2 years to get out of a wheelchair
and I've been on my feet ever since. My situation is now, its compression damage
so as I get older and my bones
it will just crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch on each other
and that's when I'll end up in a wheelchair because I won't be able to
stand upright. Common Ground is for low-income, Micah
is a charity. Well the type of people that
generally come here are those that
have been disenfranchised, are homeless, on the streets.
When I moved in here all I needed was my clothes.
There was people that came up and checked on me and made sure I was okay
If I needed anything they would go shopping for me if necessary,
yes, they would do anything for you. My apartment is set up
for disability so I have a larger
studio apartment. I think the last lease I just
signed on the back of it was ten years. For people
in this building it gives them dignity absolute because
they have a home, they can call it home
The beauty of this building it's 24 hour concierge,
so if someones upset at three am in the morning they can
go downstairs and they've got somebody to talk to.
There's social workers, there's case workers, there's Centrecare that comes in
there's so many different agencies that come in and take care of people here, it is amazing,
it has blown my mind how much there is available.
It's not easy to get but within the auspice of this building
it's a whole easier than you doing it on the outside.
It is really an upright village it's amazing who you meet,
what they're doing, what they're studying, where they've come from
how they landed here and I have never come across
so much humanity that is
in this building alone. People that have nothing
that would give you the last of what they have. If there were more buildings
like this in Australia our health system
wouldn't be suffering as badly as it is at the moment
It's the right of every human being to have the help that
is, what's in this building, and every human being
in Australia should have it.