When the
Redfern-based Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS) was established in
1986, Kim was employed as an educator. She held this position for nearly 20 years
and spoke at hundreds of public forums and training sessions.
Janene
Cootes from IDRS told the mourners: “Kim made us listen to people with an
intellectual disability. She made us talk simply. She had a big ripple effect.”
Kim was a
founding member of the Self Advocacy movement in Australia, with her friend, Robert
Strike. Kim and Robert had grown up together and shared the same ward in
Stockton, a large residential service for people with disabilities near Newcastle.
Robert
Strike fought back tears as he spoke of his friend. “Carol used to look after
me when I was sick. There was hard stuff we don’t talk about,” he said. “Carol
let people know that people with a disability could do it, if they had a
chance.”
Jan Paisley,
President of the advocacy organisation, People With Disability (PWD), also
based in Redfern, said of Kim: “We both spent half our lives in institutions
and we were very passionate about closing them down. I will continue that fight
while ever I have life in my body,
for Kim and others who were in that situation.”
Lawyer and
rights-advocate, Jim Simpson, wrote a moving obituary for Kim in the Sydney
Morning Herald. “Kim grew up in institutions and without contact with her
family, leaving her with traumas that tormented her for the rest of her life,”
Jim wrote. “As an adult, Kim sought out her mother but they found it difficult
to re-establish a relationship …
Then one
Sunday night, the phone rang. It was her father in Germany looking for his
family and for the next six years, until he died, he rang Walker every week. In
2008, Walker found out her mother was in hospital, dying of cancer … they
finally felt they were able to form a strong bond. They had a brief time
together before Ellen died.”
With the
support of her friend, disability-advocate, Faye Druett, Kim successfully
fought to have her younger sister, Lorraine, leave an institution and move to a
better life in a community group home.
Kim was
recognised nationally and internationally for her advocacy. She represented Australia
for the International League of Societies for Mental Handicap and she received
the prestigious Rosemary F. Dybwad Award for excellence in support and
development of human rights and social justice.
As a
journalist and MC, I
personally interviewed Kim in many public forums. She was always courageous,
outspoken and very funny.
Before Kim
died of cancer in Mullumbimby Hospital, she was awarded Life Membership of PWD
and the award was taken to her bedside. On behalf of PWD, Jan Daisley, who
lives with significant physical disabilities herself, told the crowd in the
Redfern Town Hall: “Kim, we salute you and may you rest in peace in the
knowledge you have left a big legacy.” The room exploded with applause.
Source: South Sydney Herald March 2012 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au