Written by an incredible 15 year old participant at Hunter Care Group 
Shaye wanted to tell her story in her own words and inspire other young people with disability
“My name is Shaye Quinn, I am 15 years old and I have Autism, Craniosynostosis, Achondroplasia. I am also legally blind in my left eye and deaf in my right ear. When I was 20 months old, my parents discovered a lump on my forehead and took me to Westmead Children’s Hospital.
The Doctors discovered my brain was running out of room to grow and told my parents I had to have a major craniofacial operation on my head, to remove some bones and reconstruct my skull.”
“In the process of planning the operation, the Doctors told my parents they only had millimetres to work with during the surgery and there was a high possibility my parents might not be able to bring me home.”
“Due to my delayed milestones in my early childhood years and delayed development, it was suggested to Mum & Dad that they send me to a Special Needs School for disabled children, to which they said no”
“My parents sent me to a mainstream Public School.
Due to my IQ going through the roof, I was moved from the Support Class into mainstream classes at the start of Year 4″
“I continued to progress with my improvement and stay in mainstream classes. I am now in Year 10 and I am extremely proud to say that I am Vice Captain of Wallsend Callaghan College.”
“The moral of my life experience is don’t let anyone or anything stop you from following your dream. If there is anything you want to do, GO FOR IT!”
“When I am not at school, I love spending time with my Hunter Care Group Support Worker. We always do fun and exciting things together and have good laughs.
We like to go to Blackbutt Reserve and look at the animals, swimming at Wallsend Pool, ice skating at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium and blasting each other’s butts off in laser tag at Holey Moley.”
“The moral of my life experience is don’t let anyone or anything stop you from following your dream. If there is anything you want to do, GO FOR IT!”
– Shaye
