After a decade of fighting for the Stockton Centre, her son's home of 22 years, to remain open, Wendy Cuneo says David will move out of the institution in a matter of months. She believes her family has had to settle for a compromise rather than what David was promised.
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The Belmont North resident said four months ago the Department of Communities and Justice offered David, 40, a place in a newly-built group home in nearby Mount Hutton with two staff from the Stockton Centre.
Ms Cuneo, 76, said she found the home to be "absolutely inappropriate".
She said the one-bedroom unit with a combined lounge, dining room and kitchen had a small courtyard and indirect access to a shared backyard.
Ms Cuneo said it would have been "cruel" to accept the offer as David used movement as a coping method for anxiety, something she had raised in consultation with the department.
David has a genetic disorder that affects his comprehension and concentration, and has epilepsy, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and intellectual disability.
"David needs room," she said.
"He has got to walk from when he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night. We couldn't have done it to him."
Features of the home were also built to be wheelchair accessible, she said, whereas David stands six feet tall.
"The shower was low, the sink was low, the microwave was at knee-level," she said.
The family has accepted a second option offered by the department: a similar property at Bonnells Bay that lies on a larger block with three group homes on it.
Ms Cuneo and her husband hope to move to Morisset to be closer to David and their daughter.
"At least there he can go for walks," she said.
Ms Cuneo said David was unlikely to have the staff he's used to from Stockton. She is concerned her son, a "people person", would not be able to replace the community he has found.
"He had the Stockton church, the shopkeepers, the staff he knew."
David said he was sad to be leaving but believed he would make new friends.
Ms Cuneo is still lobbying for a service hub to be retained at the Stockton Centre, as former residents will no longer have access to on-site bulk-billed dental, medical and psychiatric services.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Disability Services Gareth Ward said the "safe and smooth transition of residents into their new, contemporary group homes" from Stockton was the minister's priority, not closure.
He said a third of the 69 homes were built, and 72 residents of around 300 had relocated from the Stockton, Kanangra and Tomaree centres.
