Future planning for people with disability
Drop Dead
Project
Getting ready for the day you can't be there — for the person with disability you love. Because you can't run everything forever.
The most loving, bravest work a family carer can do. And you can do it one bite at a time.
The plan almost no one makes
Who will care when you can't?
Every family carer holds a whole world in place — the routines, the medications, the appointments, the thousand small things nobody else knows to do. It works, until it can't. Illness, an accident, or simply age means one day someone else has to step in. It's the number-one fear families carry — and the one plan most of us keep putting off.
This isn't about being morbid. It's about making sure the person you love stays safe, connected and well when you're no longer the one holding it together. It's a big elephant — but you can eat it, one bite at a time.
of carers feel deep anxiety about who will speak up for and help their person in the future.
of people in group homes had no one outside the paid system who knew them well or checked on them.
at a time. Every small piece you finish makes the person you love a little safer.
The most important part
It's not mainly about the legal stuff.
Most people come to this thinking about wills and trusts. Those matter — but they're not the heart of it. The strongest protection is belonging: real people who know, love and look out for the person you care for.
Natural safeguards beat formal ones.
Paid services and oversight bodies are one layer. But trusted people — family, friends, a circle of support — are the strongest safeguard of all. Think of it like Swiss cheese: no single layer is perfect, but with enough of them the holes don't line up, and the person you love can't fall all the way through.
The drop dead box
Everything someone would need to pick it up.
A box — physical, in a fire safe, or online — that holds what the next person needs to keep the care going. It can be words, video, photos, folders or collages. Build it with the person you love, at whatever level they can take part.
Who they are
- Personality, likes & dislikes
- How they best communicate
- What a good life looks like to them
- Family, friends & a birthday list
- Pets, culture, faith & community
- Decision-making support needs
Staying well
- Care plans (seizure, continence, allergy…)
- A health passport for emergencies
- Family health history
- Behaviour triggers & what helps
- Medical & specialist contacts
- End-of-life wishes
If something happens fast
- An "I care for someone" card & fridge note
- Who steps in, today, if you can't
- A packed go-bag with a refresh list
- Power & natural-disaster backups
- Mental-health & safety crisis plans
The invisible work
- The maintenance calendar you carry in your head
- Who cleans the gutters, checks the smoke alarms
- Who organises a holiday
- The small routines that keep life ticking
Getting it right
- A current will — don't leave it to chance
- A letter of intent
- Enduring power of attorney
- Advance care directive
- The right executor
- Trusts & super — with the right advice
So it's found when needed
- A fire safe, or the cloud with 2FA
- Make sure your executor & lawyer can access it
- Write down where it is and how to open it
- Review it once a year
A note on the legal pieces: choose a lawyer and financial planner who genuinely understand disability and supported decision-making — not just the shopfront down the road. Legal capacity isn't all-or-nothing; the right people will help the person you love take part in their own plan.
You can't run everything forever.
But you can make sure it doesn't all stop with you. That's the most loving thing you can do — and it starts with a single bite.