Source: The Melbourne Herald Sun [Catherine Hockley and Tanya Giles]

"...VICTORIANS took the plight of disabled woman Vicky Smith to heart yesterday, flooding her with offers of support..."

The Herald Sun was contacted by readers concerned about the 34-year-old woman who has lived in a nursing home for half her life and desperately wants to leave.

Seriously injured in a car accident 18 years ago, wheelchair-user Ms Smith pleaded this week for help to find a more appropriate home.

Strangers have offered laptop computers, asked to visit her in the Ballarat nursing home, and one woman invited her to move into her spare room.

But there was no immediate help from state or federal governments.

A spokeswoman for federal Community Services Minister Kay Patterson said under a national agreement, it was the state's responsibility to provide appropriate housing for disabled people.

But Ms Smith's plight was "recognised as an issue".

A spokeswoman for Victorian Community Services Minister Sherryl Garbutt said: "The State Government believes it is inappropriate for young people with disabilities to be living in aged-care facilities."

Ms Garbutt had put forward a range of proposals, including the state sharing the costs with the Commonwealth for alternative accommodation, the spokeswoman said.

Bairnsdale pensioner Carol Oliver, 60, yesterday offered Ms Smith her spare room.

"When I read the story, it really pulled on my heartstrings," she said.

"It's pitiful that she's spent so much of her life in a nursing home. The Government should be ashamed of themselves."

Young People in Nursing Homes spokeswoman Dr Bronwyn Morkham said at least one young Australian entered a nursing home every day.

She urged the Federal Government to lead the way to resolve the issue.

Democrats senator Lyn Allison said: "This is a human rights issue."

She said the Commonwealth had allowed states to put people in federally funded nursing homes and that had become a "fall back position".

"The Commonwealth has not insisted that the states establish other accommodation," she said.

More than 3500 people under 60 live in nursing homes in Australia.

Melbourne man John Di Santo, 45, has been living at Gardenview Residential Care Facility in Parkville for 18 months.

Stricken with cerebral palsy from birth and recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Mr Di Santo desperately wants to return to his city flat.

He used to do a music program for a community radio station, and misses playing his soul and jazz music at home.

"This doesn't feel like home," he said yesterday.

But he is luckier than many, as Gardenview offers high-level rehabilitation and medical care not found in nursing homes.

Plans to allow Mr Di Santo to go home with increased assistance have fallen through and his future is uncertain. "It's about dignity," he said.