Exclusive: Melbourne mum with paraplegia raising twins with help from unique program

Having twins brings double the joy and double the demands in terms of parenting.

So imagine raising two babies with the added challenge of physical disability.

This is the reality for Bonnie Magree, 34, who has incomplete paraplegia.

In her teens, Ms Magree suffered a horse-riding accident which crushed her spinal cord, leaving her with limited sensation in her legs.

While she can still walk, she often relies on a wheelchair.

“I’m still affected from the waist down. The feeling is patchy,” Ms Magree told 9News.

When she fell pregnant with twins unexpectedly she took the new challenge in her stride.  Nine months later she delivered two healthy girls - Ziana and Olivia.

“They're the best thing that ever happened to me, my kids, I love them more than anything,” Ms Magree said.

The parenting journey has been made much more manageable thanks to occupational therapist Emelia Young.

Ms Young runs a unique in-home support program for parents with disability through service provider, Yooralla. She helps parents, mostly mums, with a range of conditions from cerebral palsy to blindness.

“With really small modifications to the home with that little bit more support these women thrive as parents,” she said.

Ms Young helps mums access and use and wheelchair-friendly baby gear, such as cots and highchairs that are lowered or shower chairs to help bath babies safely.

She also demonstrates how to carry out ordinary but tough tasks like getting into the car.

Ms Magree said Ms Young’s support and practical tips have helped her manage with twins.

“Emelia's like – ‘you do need that, you should have that’. And it will make it easier.

“She’s been amazing. If it wasn’t for her I think I would have definitely struggled.”

The program also helps reduce the stigma disabled parents sometimes experience about their ability to raise children.

“Bonnie’s is not still seen as a women with a disability - she’s a mum,” Ms Young said.

There are at least ten other mums on the waiting list requiring support from Ms Young’s disability parenting program.

But the program itself needs help, with extra funding desperately needed to keep operating.

And help mums and dads like Bonnie be the best parents they can be – despite disability.

“It made everything so much less scary.”

More information about Yooralla's program can be found here or by calling 1800 666 010