Peter

“I used to go to the shops once a fortnight to do my shopping, and maybe to the doctor and that was it. I just stayed home all the time, there was just nowhere to go. I went to a disability expo and I asked a few people around, I said ‘where can someone go to meet friends?’.” says Peter.

Peter recalls “I started going to some Helping Hand groups. A lot of people get old and start sitting around the home watching TV all the time and they think they can’t do anything, and their body locks up. We might be old in body and everything, and what a lot of the younger generation think is that when you’re old, you’re a has-been, but you’re not.

“At the moment if you want to come and see me you need to ring me and make an appointment because I’m hardly home. Last weekend we had about eight people from the different groups and we all got together and had a meal, so it’s made a new life for me. When you get a bit disabled and you live on your own for many years, you kind of get the feeling that you’re not worthy. So I’ve learnt through the group that I am somebody… All that happens is your body gets old, but inside you’re just the same.”

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