Touchstone – Volume 30
70 years of CPL continued...
We’re also continuing to share the stories
of some of our clients. In this edition of
Touchstone we’d like to introduce Bruce
Alexander who has been a CPL client for
60 years. We spoke with Bruce and his
sister-in-law Dianne about his journey
with CPL, as well as Shannon Jones one
of Bruce’s CPL Support Workers (she’s
been with CPL for 22 years!).
“I started with CPL in 1958, when I was
three years old,” said Bruce (pictured
above and on the right).
“I lived in Ipswich and we had to get up
at 4:30 in the morning to catch the train
in to Brisbane, where I had three hours of
treatment.
According to Dianne, Bruce’s mum Mary
didn’t accept the community standards
for people with disabilities in the 1950’s.
“
CPL has changed a lot over
the years, it’s much bigger
and there are a lot more staff
to help. It’s great that I don’t
have to travel into Brisbane for
support anymore, I can go to
Ipswich near my home!
”
4
“When we were young, you never saw
people with disabilities because people
were told to keep them hidden or send
them away for help. Mary was told to do
that as well, but she was a determined
woman and didn’t want to do that.
“Mary was a volunteer at CPL for a long
time, looking after all the children like
they were her own. She was given the Sir
David Longland Award for her voluntary
service in 1983 by CPL,” Dianne explained.
Shannon, who works with Bruce, agreed
that things were very different back then,
even 22 years ago when she started at
CPL.
“In my early days at CPL, support workers
called all the shots and made all the
decisions. The client wasn’t even asked
what they wanted to do.
“We are so much more client focused
now. It’s all about what they want to do
and when.
“Bruce wanted to go to a show at night
time, but he didn’t think he could because
his regular time slot was 4pm and he
thought he couldn’t stray from that.
“I said, if you want to go at night time, we
will make that happen! It’s whatever you
want to do. We’re here to support
you, not the other way ‘round!