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Melissa: Yes, we were dancing together
Mark: Yes, first we went dancing then I met Mel in 1996.
Mark: It was right after ….
Melissa: It was right after you played hide and seek with me.
Mark: Yeah I do.
Mark: I tickled her and that kind of stuff.
And we said we were going to get married.
Mark: Mel chose the ring for me and I gave her one as well.
Lynne: Mark came to me and said he would really like to marry Melissa.
Lynne: I said if you want to do that, you’ve got to do the right thing,
save up and buy her an engagement ring. And he did.
Lynne: You chose your rings didn’t you?
Mark: My mum made the dress for her on our wedding day
and I wasn’t allowed to see it, but I did see it.
(Laughter)
Lynne: Our aim was to get Mark and Melissa to be
as independent of us as we possibly could, because we’re not getting any younger of course.
Lynne: And we just feel that life is about having choices, they have a right to have choices
and to get as much out of life as possible for them.
Valerie: Working with Mel and Mark has been fantastic and their parents, Lynn and Gordon….
And it has been a story about trying to find out what the married couples dream was but
also finding ways to make that happen for them.
Mark: We watch Home and Away a lot, Star Wars and a few other things like that.
Mark: Doctor Who is really good and I watch it and every time I like.
Mark: Mel won’t let me watch it.
Melissa: Only sometimes…. (Laughter)
Valerie: Melissa has a plan and Mark has a plan,
they don’t have a plan between them.
Valerie: It is still individualised to meet their needs.
We decided early on that was important.
Lynne: It looks after the individual instead of creating an overall thing that most people would be
able to meet some but not all of the things.
It is centred around them particularly so they have their own particular plan for their
situation and their capabilities.
Lynne: And each of the people that are on it have a plan that is geared to them.
Lynne: One of the worst things when you have a child with a disability is you always wonder
what’s going to happen down the track and you know there are some things we don’t have control over.
Lynne: So we have to put things in place to manage the ‘what might be’
in the best way that we can and the plan has worked extremely well for that.
Valerie: It’s fun working with Mark and Mel.
It’s fun because you see the tremendous achievements that
they’ve made over the years and they’ve just got stronger.
Valerie: Mark and Melissa know best about what they want and what they want to do,
even if you might think … hmmmmm…. they are pretty much right all the time.
Lynne: You know it takes a whole heap of ‘what if’ off your mind as parents, you know.
Lynne: I know I talk to other parents who have children with disabilities and it’s this constant
thing that hangs over us all the time, ‘What happens when we are not around?'
'What happens if something happens?‘
Lynne: Now I am comfortable, like I’m not sort of over concerned about these things
because they will be OK.
Lynne: Because everything is in place, that life will continue for them
in the way that they understand, they know and are happy with.