MAX’s Story

Rebuilding my independence with technology and a new home

I’ve always tried to give my son every opportunity I can to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling life, but that’s not always an easy thing to do when you’re in an unstable living environment and often feel unsafe. Before moving into my Ability Apartment, I was ashamed to have people over to my old home.

Today, that feeling is gone. I now live in an accessible Ability Apartment where I’m proud to welcome my friends and family. My son (who I co-parent) loves being at home with me in our apartment, my cat curls up beside me while I work. I spend my time building technology solutions that help people with disabilities live more independently.

But my life didn’t always look like this…

From instability to independence

There was a time in my life when stability just felt impossible. I experienced homelessness twice as a wheelchair user. My partner and I were eventually able to secure government housing and move into a unit that technically had lift access, but had no other ‘accessible’ features. There were no chair hoists for me, no assistive technology and very few support options to help with my disability.

The community housing environment was also difficult in itself. There were constant issues with vandalism, theft and drug activity in the building. Emergency services were regular visitors and it really wasn’t a safe or stable place to raise a child or be living with a disability.

When my relationship later broke down, I had very little support around me. I was trying to find a way to move forward while still being the best father I could be, but it really wasn’t an easy time.

Eventually, with the help of community organisations like Parramatta Mission, I was able to access Specialist Disability Accommodation and move into one of Ability SDA’s accessible apartment buildings designed specifically for people with high physical support needs.

That moment changed everything for me.

A home that supports my independence

Moving into my Ability Apartment felt different from any other move I’d ever made.

I was lucky enough to move into a multi-level, residential building with commercial services like an integrated medical centre in the town centre. The supermarket and a few other services like a pharmacy and restaurants, are right next door. The building has 71 units in total and 11 of those are specially designed SDA apartments. The whole building was designed with wheelchair users in mind and there are 11 other residents with disabilities living independently in their own accessible apartments around me. The Ability SDA team supported me through the transition, and for the first time I felt like I was moving into a place that could truly be my home.

My apartment is fully accessible and integrated with assistive technology that allows me to control key features in my home like lights, doors, blinds and air conditioning which can all be automated as I want it to be.

For many people, turning on a light or opening a door is something they barely think about, but for a wheelchair user, that technology can make the difference between true independence and being wholly reliant on someone else.

What happened when the tech stopped working…

When the building was originally developed, it included an advanced home automation system. Every apartment was connected through CAT6 cabling to an onsite support provider’s apartment, allowing residents to control building entry doors, apartment doors, lighting, blinds, and air conditioning.

The technology was designed to make everyday life easier and safer, but it was pretty unreliable. Then the original technology provider gave us six months’ notice that they planned to stop supporting their system, leaving the Ability SDA team trying to work out a solution for the residents in the building.

For residents who relied on the automation to live independently, that wasn’t just inconvenient, it would have affected every aspect of daily life. Simple things like opening doors or controlling devices would have become unreliable if no one could have stepped in to rebuild part of the system. As someone who has always loved technology and problem solving, I just couldn’t ignore the problem.

Rebuilding the system from scratch

I’ve always been passionate about computers, gaming and anything technical. I used to run a small tech business, but I never felt particularly passionate about the work I was doing.

Then Ability SDA approached me to take on a paid position with them to become the tech support manager, working alongside their property manager Armando, for our building. Fixing the building’s technology turned into a really rewarding role quite quickly – I couldn’t believe my luck! It’s amazing to see the impact of what I’m doing on the people who’ve become my friends.

Armando and I started exploring how we could bring the automation system back to life. What followed was about six months of testing, experimenting and rebuilding the platform piece by piece.

I’m completely self-taught when it comes to this kind of work and technology changes quickly. Most of what I’ve learned and managed to do here has come from experimenting and solving the problems myself. Through this process, I’ve managed to rebuild the automation system using open-source platforms, replacing outdated components and rewriting large parts of the existing code base so it could function properly again.

Today the technology runs locally within the building rather than relying entirely on cloud-based services. Hosting it onsite makes it faster, more reliable and less dependent on internet connectivity. It’s worked so well, that I was also asked to roll it out into other Ability Apartment buildings on the Central Coast too. I’ve loved travelling up there and meeting other tenants in other buildings as we all share similar experiences.

With the new system in place, residents can continue to control key features of their homes independently. That includes opening the building’s front doors, calling the elevator, unlocking apartment doors, adjusting lights and blinds, controlling air conditioning, opening balcony doors and activating the nurse call system connected to the onsite support provider when necessary.
For many residents, those small actions represent something much bigger: true independence.

My support team leader says, “The work undertaken by Max has had a profound and positive impact on his mental health and overall outlook on life. The opportunity provided by Ability SDA has been transformative, fostering a strong sense of motivation and purpose in his daily routine. The significance of his role, and the meaningful impact it has on tenants, has driven Max to achieve goals he would not have previously thought possible at this stage of his life. Despite being in the role for a relatively short period, Max has already demonstrated a high level of success, as evidenced by the positive feedback received from both clients and the SDA provider.”

Custom-designed technology

Since rebuilding and fixing the old system, I’ve started customising the technology in my own apartment and would like to roll this out to all tenants. Everyone has different needs, so the goal is to personalise how the technology works for each person independently. Something as simple as a single button that runs a full morning routine – opening blinds, turning on lights and adjusting devices in one go – can make everyday life significantly easier.

One of the biggest challenges with assistive technology is that frustration often causes people to stop using it altogether. If it’s complicated or unreliable, people simply give up.

My focus is making technology simple, dependable and tailored to each person’s needs. I’m even exploring ways to improve voice control systems so they work better for people whose speech patterns may not be easily recognised by mainstream voice assistants.

For example, someone with cerebral palsy may have difficulty being understood by standard systems like Siri or Alexa. With the right training and development, those systems could be adapted to better understand different speech patterns.

I really believe that technology should adapt to people – not the other way around.

A new purpose

What started as fixing an unreliable system has turned into something much more meaningful for me.

Working on these solutions has helped me connect with other residents and understand their experiences. Many of us share similar health challenges, and designing technology that supports real people is incredibly rewarding.

It’s actually given me a sense of purpose I didn’t have before. I once thought about becoming a disability support worker, but life circumstances never allowed it. Now I’ve found another way to contribute to the lives of people with disabilities using the skills I already have. It’s encouraging and empowering.

A life I never expected

Beyond being able to help others and improve their technology, the biggest change has been stability for me and my son personally.

I’m proud of where I live. Friends and family come over regularly. This apartment has enabled me to co-parent and to maintain a strong relationship with my son, and that means everything to me.

Looking back, I never imagined I’d be living the life I have now. Today I have a safe home, meaningful work and the opportunity to use my skills to help others live more independently. My goal is to tailor tech for each individual tenant to gain independence and improve their quality of life.

That’s something I’m incredibly grateful for.