Brigid O'Connell and published in the Sunday Herald Sun February 27, 2011. 

How the Power of Love Saved Luke: WITH a little bit of tender loving care, Luke Modra has gone from "the boy in a DHS cell" to a happy, functioning adult.  Read More 

 Luke's story, told in the Sunday Herald Sun in 2009, revealed how the human spirit could be crushed by a stark state care system with little human contact or stimulus.As one of Victoria's most severely autistic people, Luke was the archetype of the case authorities left to wither in the too-hard basket. At 15, he was placed in state care where his violent outbursts and his complex way of processing the world left him languishing in prison-like conditions for 20 hours a day for six years.

But now after a year living free from the system, his parents, Mark and Ellen Modra, have a message for the Department of Human Services: by swapping restraint for care and punishment for understanding, the severely disabled can live happy and productive lives without families being destroyed and lives ruined.

"What DHS still hasn't learnt is that these people just can't get over their autism - it's there forever," Mrs Modra said. "Either they put the money in for ongoing support for our children ... you might as well say that if Luke's not supported, his life isn't worth living because his life was horrific."

After the Sunday Herald Sun highlighted Luke's case in 2009, staff from a non-government-run disability support agency in the small NSW town of Deniliquin contacted the Modra family to say it could help.

With no other care options in Victoria and with the family still coping with the death of Luke's 17-year-old sister, Hannah, the offer seemed too good to be true.

But workers from Yallambee came and spent time with Luke and his family. They coped with his worst behaviours, understood that autism hadn't affected his intellect and told the family it would be a privilege for them to take Luke on.

Since February last year, the 22-year-old has swapped his sparse cell for his own three-bedroom unit on a 4ha farm, where the doors are never locked and he can run and cycle until he's exhausted.

Instead of having his meals passed through a door and his carers separated with specially designed cages, Luke is cared for by young men who do not blame him for his difficult behaviour and who call him their mate.

"Luke wasn't going to live if he stayed at DHS," Mrs Modra said.

"He was so sick, so tortured and just so unwell that we didn't have a choice about getting him out."

The magic recipe at Yallambee is simple stuff.

People with severe disabilities can live happy and productive lives if they're given a liberating environment, supported by caring and respectful people and given things to do and look forward to.

Luke does not have more support than he did under DHS care, but he has carers who are being his "moderators" to the world.

"When I see the young farmers who are looking after Luke, what I see is young men who have struggled in their lives," Mrs Modra said. "But when they see Luke and his behaviours, they're not afraid. They don't blame him for it.

"They know that when they went off the rails, there was always a reason."

Last week, the Sunday Herald Sun revealed the plight of Colby Hickie, a 24-year-old with severe autism and Down syndrome who had lost the ability to communicate and complete daily tasks such as cooking and showering in the two years since DHS removed his specialist carers.

But as young people such as Colby are being left to deteriorate under state care, the Modra family is adamant that Luke's model - with the financial backing from DHS - can be life-changing for other Victorian families.

For Mr Modra, the moment that summed up his son's incredible progress over the past year came as they watched a movie and sucked on icy poles in Luke's home over summer.

"There wasn't a glimmer of anxiety of anything, it was just normal, relaxed," Mr Modra said. "We didn't know if he would recover, but now he's up there, we know what he needs for the rest of his life."

Two years ago, trying to create that same scene would have been a heartbreaking and stressful mission.

"If DHS brought Luke to visit us, he would arrive naked, his clothes completely shredded," Mrs Modra said. "It would be hell for our other children because he would be screaming, yelling and he'd attack you."

The Modra family are talking with a support organisation in Victoria which they hope can model the care Luke is receiving now, to bring him closer to home early next year.

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