As structure and routine are very important to her, Maddie's family have ensured that she is actively engaged in a wide variety of exciting activities. Some of her weekly activities include: a day program at Essential Personnel, personal training at Highlands Health Club, swimming training at Frensham School, swimming with Special Olympics Illawarra, tenpin bowling and housecleaning jobs.

In addition to her weekly routine, a highlight of Maddie's life is attending Interchange Australia's weekend Peer Support activities, including regular Friday night dinner groups and exciting Saturday outings. Maddie loves the football games, dinner groups - especially the recent dinner at a local Chinese restaurant - and indoor skydiving, a new experience that "wasn't one bit scary!"

Maddie's other interests include Pokémon, computer games, volunteering at her local school library, reading and trivia. Spending time with family and friends is extremely important to Maddie. Her participation in regular dinner groups and Saturday activities enable her to maintain current friendships and make new friends, as well as participate in activities she never thought she would try. Recent highlights for Maddie this year are indoor skydiving at Penrith and surfing at the Disabled Surfers Day at Gerroa. All of these exciting activities have had an enormously positive impact on Maddie's life by increasing her self-esteem, confidence and involvement within the community.

Maddie's participation in activities with Interchange Australia give her the opportunity to develop and learn new skills in the areas of art, sport and independent living skills such as travel training. Maddie is a regular attendee of Interchange Australia's monthly art workshops, where she has created a diverse range of artwork using a variety of media including paper, paint, clay and mosaics. Interchange Australia also incorporates public transport travel on many of our activities, and Maddie is learning to develop independent skills to travel by train. This year, Maddie has caught the train with the Peer Support group to visit the Botanical Gardens and Chinatown in Sydney.

"I love Peer Support to explore new places, talk to friends and try out new things," said Maddie. "It has changed my life so I don't have to stay home and enables me to get out into the community to do fun, exciting activities. It has also made me more social and improved my communication skills".