Valé Kim Walker (Carol Pein) – advocate, teacher and friend

When the Redfern-based Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS) was established in 1986, Kim was employed as an educator. She held this position for nearly 20 years and spoke at hundreds of public forums and training sessions.

Janene Cootes from IDRS told the mourners: “Kim made us listen to people with an intellectual disability. She made us talk simply. She had a big ripple effect.”

Kim was a founding member of the Self Advocacy movement in Australia, with her friend, Robert Strike. Kim and Robert had grown up together and shared the same ward in Stockton, a large residential service for people with disabilities near Newcastle.

Robert Strike fought back tears as he spoke of his friend. “Carol used to look after me when I was sick. There was hard stuff we don’t talk about,” he said. “Carol let people know that people with a disability could do it, if they had a chance.”

Jan Paisley, President of the advocacy organisation, People With Disability (PWD), also based in Redfern, said of Kim: “We both spent half our lives in institutions and we were very passionate about closing them down. I will continue that fight while ever I have life in my body, for Kim and others who were in that situation.”

Lawyer and rights-advocate, Jim Simpson, wrote a moving obituary for Kim in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Kim grew up in institutions and without contact with her family, leaving her with traumas that tormented her for the rest of her life,” Jim wrote. “As an adult, Kim sought out her mother but they found it difficult to re-establish a relationship ...

Then one Sunday night, the phone rang. It was her father in Germany looking for his family and for the next six years, until he died, he rang Walker every week. In 2008, Walker found out her mother was in hospital, dying of cancer ... they finally felt they were able to form a strong bond. They had a brief time together before Ellen died.”

With the support of her friend, disability-advocate, Faye Druett, Kim successfully fought to have her younger sister, Lorraine, leave an institution and move to a better life in a community group home.

Kim was recognised nationally and internationally for her advocacy. She represented Australia for the International League of Societies for Mental Handicap and she received the prestigious Rosemary F. Dybwad Award for excellence in support and development of human rights and social justice.

As a journalist and MC, I personally interviewed Kim in many public forums. She was always courageous, outspoken and very funny.

Before Kim died of cancer in Mullumbimby Hospital, she was awarded Life Membership of PWD and the award was taken to her bedside. On behalf of PWD, Jan Daisley, who lives with significant physical disabilities herself, told the crowd in the Redfern Town Hall: “Kim, we salute you and may you rest in peace in the knowledge you have left a big legacy.” The room exploded with applause.