Ellie Cole's Couch - Lorna transcript

Lorna: We need to overcome the fear. Look at me, 63 years old, Parkinson’s, I'm still here at work.

So my name is Lorna Farooq, I'm 63 and I'm from South Africa and I'm working at APM Gosnells.

Ellie: You have memories of your dad being able-bodied and then losing his legs to diabetes.

Lorna: Yes, and going through that journey with him, how people treat him because they see that he's got no legs and assume that he can't think. You know, that is now half a person.

Ellie: I only lost one of my legs, but I remember growing up in my childhood and a generation that hadn't been exposed as much to disability and a lot of people speaking very slowly to me, thinking that I wouldn't be able to comprehend what they were saying. So I had to learn a lot of self-strength from that, and I'm sure that your dad did too.

Lorna: Yeah, that's what he said. He's like, “people think because my legs has gone, I'm only a half a person, but I'm actually still the full person, I just lost walking.” And that's why my disability comes in very handy in the profession I'm doing today because I've got, I'm sitting on the other side of the desk knowing exactly what somebody’s going through on the other side in front of me. So, I can relate, and I can help them by telling them, you know, this is just a disability. You see it differently than what other people see.

We need to overcome the fear. Look at me, 63 years old, Parkinson’s, I'm still here at work. You’ve got my support, so you're not alone in this journey. I can walk the journey with you.

Ellie: I only know of one other person in my life that that has Parkinson's, but I don't know too much about it.

Lorna: So Parkinson's started with the tremor in my thumb and I thought, “Oh my goodness, what's happening now?”, and then it started to shake in the hand. And then the GP referred me to the Parkinson’s research, and then they discovered that I got Parkinson’s.

Ellie: That experience of being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease for the first time, how did it feel when you heard those words? That you were facing, you know, the rest of your life with a disability and you're not necessarily sure how that disability is going to progress?

Lorna: It was shock. It was a big shock, but it shocked me in a different way. It was like it left me without a feeling. You know you got the message, but it doesn't sink in. It took me a couple of months before I really realised, “Now it's not going to go away.”

Ellie: What are some of the things that you have learnt about yourself since being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease that makes you not only better at your role at APM, but also has contributed positively to your life?

Lorna: You change your way of thinking. You know, we always say, “tomorrow's another day.” So I live now my day as today because I don't know what's happening tomorrow. If you get yourself out of that shock and depression and anxiety of what's next. So just accept it. My advice to people: accept what happened. You got a card: you have to deal with that card now.

Ellie: I'm always fascinated to hear about the experiences of people that do acquire the disabilities later on. I was only three years old when I lost my leg to cancer, and so I've grown up, I didn't know what it was like to be able-bodied, but I don't actually have too many memories of that.

As someone who has acquired their disability later on, what kind of strategies did you use to be able to accept that, and then say, “I've been dealt with this card, let's do something”?

Lorna: It's very, very scary, the journey. It might happen or it might not happen, so you need to choose: are you going to think it's going to happen, or you think it's not going to happen.

I tried to not focus on Parkinson’s. Only time that I actually use the word, “Parkinson’s” is when I deal with the clients, to motivate them and say, “you're not alone - look at me!”

Ellie: What is it like for you as a person with lived experience with disability to then work in Disability Employment Services?

Lorna: I think it's great because like I said, I get the support and now it's my duty to give support to the clients, and I know how I feel when I get support.

Ellie: What are some of the benefits that you've seen to the employer when you place someone with a disability in their organisation?

Lorna: For me, always, I say to the employer, “you changed somebody's life. You helped somebody moving forward in life. You understand that disability is a little bit harder work than with people with no disability because they need more support, but that's why APM are there to support them through the journey.

Ellis: If an organisation was to come to APM and say, “I would love to have somebody with a disability come and work for us”, what advice would you give them? What would the first step for them be to take?

Lorna: I’d say, “you're going to have people that're loyal, you're going to have people that really want a second chance in life. You're going to give that second chance, they're going to change their lives. A little bit of hard work, but we will work together and we will get them across the line.”

Ellie: And how do you feel working for a workplace that's so inclusive as well?

Lorna: Like I said, I'm proud working for APM and there's not enough words to say thank you for what APM is actually doing for the clients and for the employers. I mean, everybody experiences it differently, but I can talk about it because I experience it myself.