Approach. Ask. Assist: What Meaningful Support Looks Like Through Lived Experience

Seeing the World Through Different Senses

When Mary asks Sibylla which language she prefers when discussing her vision, there is no simple answer.

For Sibylla, terms such as “blind” or “vision impaired” can be useful when communicating with others, but they do not necessarily reflect how she understands herself. She describes her senses instead as being “differently configured.”

That distinction matters.

Sibylla recalls attending a university lecture where students were developing AI technology related to vision. As she listened, she noticed an assumption beneath the discussion: that someone who experiences vision differently would naturally want technology that could make their experience more like that of a typically sighted person.

Sibylla challenged this premise.

She values the way she experiences the world. Rather than assuming that a difference needs to be corrected, her perspective invites another question: have we asked the people who will actually use a service or technology what they want from it?

For researchers, practitioners and service providers, it is a reminder that lived experience should not simply be consulted after something has been designed. It can help shape the design from the beginning.

Accessibility Is in the Details

Accessibility is often found in details that may be invisible to those who do not rely on them.

Sibylla sees this when managing her NDIS plan online. As a self-managed participant who uses high magnification, she copies provider information from invoices into the NDIS portal. While ABNs are commonly displayed with spaces, the portal requires them to be entered as one continuous number.

For Sibylla, copying the number is itself an accessibility strategy. Having to locate and remove spaces from a long string of digits adds an unnecessary step to a routine task.

Her suggested solution is simple: frequently used provider details to be saved, much like a payee in online banking. Providers can also help by removing spaces from ABNs on their invoices.

It is a small adjustment, but one that shows how listening to lived experience can reveal practical ways to make everyday systems more accessible.

Sibylla's own story demonstrates why.

When Support Needs Change

Throughout her life, Sibylla had developed strategies that worked for her, including using a white cane, magnifiers and large-print materials.

When she later experienced a significant and sudden change in her vision, some of those strategies needed to change too. Sibylla describes this as an intense period of adapting how she navigated her surroundings. She later began considering a form of support she had not previously used: a guide dog.

But finding the right guide dog was not simply about pairing Sibylla with the next available dog. Just as she had seen through her own work, the support needed to fit the individual.

Finding the Right Match

Guide Dogs spent time getting to know Sibylla and understanding what the partnership would need to look like in her everyday life. They considered her environment, walking pace, routines, the places she travelled to and where she hoped to go in the future.

The process was individualised because the partnership needed to work in Sibylla's life.

That process eventually brought Velvet into her life. Sibylla recalls feeling a connection quickly. Velvet was calm and gentle, with a personality she describes as a little quirky. Even their walking pace developed together, with Sibylla adapting to Velvet's natural pace.

Velvet also created an unexpected connection between Sibylla and Mary, who had previously been one of Velvet's puppy raisers.

Their partnership reflects something Sibylla's professional experience had already shown her. Meaningful support is not simply about what service is available. It is about understanding the individual and how that support fits into their everyday life.

Sibylla also reflects on the value of specialised organisations that have supported their communities for decades. Over time, these organisations have developed deep knowledge of the people they work alongside, building specialist expertise, advocacy networks and strong community relationships.

With the introduction of the NDIS and a more market-based model, these organisations now operate alongside a much broader range of providers. For Sibylla, this raises an important question about how specialised knowledge is recognised and preserved within a changing service landscape. When organisations have spent years understanding a particular community and what meaningful support looks like for them, that expertise carries value.

This does not mean newer providers cannot deliver high-quality support. Rather, Sibylla's perspective highlights that specialist knowledge and community understanding develop over time. For participants, choosing support may therefore involve considering not only what service is available, but also the knowledge, experience and understanding behind it.

Through these experiences, Sibylla had seen the importance of support responding to the individual rather than assuming the same approach would work for everyone.

That idea is captured in a simple principle she shares through her lived-experience work.

Approach. Ask. Assist.

For Sibylla, person-centred support can begin with three simple steps: Approach. Ask. Assist.

The middle step is essential.

Previous experience supporting someone who experiences the world in a similar way does not automatically tell us what the next person wants. People have different preferences, routines, communication styles and goals.

So, approach the person. Ask whether assistance is wanted and how they would like it provided. Then assist in response to what they tell you.

For practitioners and providers, expertise remains important. But expertise and curiosity are not opposites. Knowing when to ask, listen and learn from the person in front of you is part of providing individualised support.