Leading through Learning
Photo by Salty Dingo.
Amongst this year鈥檚 deserving winners of Australian of the Year Awards 2021 is alumnus Adjunct Professor Richard Bruggemann, named South Australian Senior of the Year 2021 and national finalist.
Richard has spent more than thirty years advocating for people with intellectual disabilities and their families. During that time, he has provided expert advice to governments on disability services, legislation, inclusion and rights; has volunteered on many non-government boards and committees; and written countless articles on topics of concern for the disability community.
When it comes to being recognised for his work, Richard humbly said, 鈥渨orking with people with intellectual disabilities, their families, getting things sorted out for them, working with really good staff, helping people to have success, that was always a huge reward in itself.鈥
While initially reticent about receiving the award, Richard said, 鈥淲here I鈥檝e got to now is that it鈥檚 a bit of icing on an already lovely cake 鈥 but what it is also, is an opportunity to talk about something that often doesn鈥檛 get talked about, and that鈥檚 been the key thing for me.鈥
Richard was introduced to people with intellectual disabilities at a young age, with both of his parents working at the Piddington School at the now closed Strathmore Centre for people with intellectual disabilities.聽
He gravitated to working in the area because he felt people with intellectual disabilities and their families 鈥渉ad a reputation that they didn鈥檛 deserve.鈥
鈥淭hey were just people and they had difficulties like we all do,鈥 said Richard.
鈥淎nd the more that I came to meet people with intellectual disabilities and their families, the more that I learned from them, and the more I saw that they are a group that we hadn鈥檛 given opportunities to. We had segregated them, we had put them in places where they were largely hidden from the community.
鈥淚 just found qualities in them that I thought, 鈥業 hope I measure up to those standards鈥,鈥 Richard said.
Early in his career, Richard discovered the importance of learning through listening. He learned this as CEO of the Intellectual Disability Services Council, which he helped to establish in 1982 while working at the SA Health Commission.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e an upwardly mobile young bureaucrat, just appointed as a CEO, you think you know everything. And then you start to find out that you actually don鈥檛 know a great deal at all, and it鈥檚 the people with intellectual disabilities and their families who are teaching you,鈥 Richard said.
鈥淚 think if you want to be a leader you have to be a learner,鈥 he said.
As the CEO of the Council, one of the things Richard was determined to find out was what people with intellectual disabilities actually wanted. One of the ways Richard discovered this was by manning the Council鈥檚 after-hours phone service with other senior staff each night, a job he did with them every day for eight years while CEO. 鈥淵ou only know what people want if you get to know them,鈥 Richard said.
Richard recalls one of the phone calls he took where a voice at the end of the line said 鈥淚鈥檓 lonely鈥. He went to this person鈥檚 house a couple of days later and discovered the 鈥渉ouse was neat as a pin鈥 but that the person had 鈥渘o fellowship with neighbours, friends or connections in the community.鈥
鈥淪o they were the things that were important to learn. And at the end of the day, they were the same things that were important to you or me,鈥 Richard said.
Last year, Richard was part of the State Government鈥檚 special taskforce investigating the tragic death of cerebral palsy sufferer, Ann Marie Smith. He was also appointed to a new government role to assess the temporary orders to protect people living with a cognitive or mental impairment from the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
With Ann Marie, 鈥渨hat we found was failures at every level of the system. So when they did her National Disability Support Plan (NDIS), they should have seen that she was vulnerable and put in place some mechanism to monitor how she was going.鈥澛
While there remains a lot of work in reshaping the NDIS to better safeguard vulnerable people in our communities, Richard said there are also things we can do as individuals.聽
鈥淏eing more neighbourly and getting to know our neighbours better,鈥 is a good place to start.
We congratulate Richard and also fellow South Australian alumna Isobel Marshall, named Young Australian of the Year 2021, on their outstanding achievements.
Story by Kelly Brown.