YDAS - Youth Disability Advocacy Service - www.ydas.org

STAFF

Dr George Taleporos

- Hi! I'm George, the coordinator of the Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS).  I am slightly too old to call myself a young person, but as I am 30 years old, it doesn't feel like that long ago for me!

I have had a physical disability since birth which has become more severe as I have gotten older. I now use a ventilator during the night to help me to breathe and a motorised wheelchair to get around.  I also use attendant support workers and have a lot of support through family and friends.  Basically, I am high maintenance and there would be a lot of people out of work and with nothing to do if I wasn't around!

In the 80s when I had big hair and a lot of it, I went to a special school and got to travel in a big blue bus with the words Spastic Society splashed along the side.  It was around the time when the word ‘integration' was becoming more fashionable than my big hair and so I was slowly mainstreamed into a regular high school.

When I finished high school, I spent 10 years studying at university and finished my PhD in psychology in 2002.  My PhD research was around body image and sexuality issues and how they are affected by physical disability.  Some say I'm like the Doctor Feelgood for people with disabilities!

My previous work has been in the areas of advocacy, training and community development.  I have been involved in delivering disability awareness training to local government as well as disability service providers.  I have previously worked with various disability advocacy organisations including Action for Community Living, and the Disability Resources Centre. I have been involved in setting up new services as well as advocating on systemic issues around community living and attendant support for people with disabilities. 

I am a self-confessed workaholic and have been known to regularly violate social norms around acceptable working hours. I laugh at the concept of an eight-hour workday.  In addition to my day job, I host and assist with the production of a community television show called No Limits. While it has not reached the point where I am being mobbed by fans in the street, I do get the occasional fan mail and brief expressions of appreciation from the public who regularly approach me to let me know that they enjoy the show.  I also have an interest in comedy and went through a stage where I thought I was going to be the next Dave Hughes and regularly performed stand-up at sleazy pubs until I realised that I no longer wanted to risk my life being dragged up and down inaccessible performance spaces.  My proudest moment in my comedy career was coming third in the State finals of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Raw Comedy competition.

I am thrilled to be a part of YDAS and to work closely with young people with disabilities and my colleague Deborah, to make Victoria a better place for young people with disabilities.

Deborah Lawson

Like George, I am also a fraction too old to call myself a young person, having recently and very reluctantly turned 30.  (Although, for the record, I believe that George is in fact older than me). I’m from Dunedin, in the beautiful South Island of New Zealand. 

I moved to Melbourne in October 2007, having been offered the fantastic opportunity to work as the individual advocate at YDAS.  I was already familiar with Victoria, having spent many summers (and one cold winter) here over the past few years.  (My parents moved to Geelong for a couple of years a while back, seemingly prompted by a mid-life crisis).   Many of my friends from New Zealand have also lived in Melbourne for years.  These friends, the fabulous food, the hot weather, the MCG, and the awesome staff at YDAS and the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria, have made my move across the ditch incredibly fun and easy. I have previously worked as a researcher at the University of Otago (NZ), exploring legal issues around genetic testing of children, and as a lawyer for young people at YouthLaw in Auckland, NZ.

I am excited by the challenges that my role as the individual advocate at YDAS presents.  I particularly enjoy working alongside all of the incredible young people who contact us for assistance in achieving their rights.