Dick
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Dick is in his mid-50s. He has cognitive and physical disabilities and receives the Disability Support Pension. He lives in a unit owned and managed by a government housing agency. There have been many problems with the property over the years, and in trying to resolve them Dick has found agency staff unsympathetic and unhelpful.
Problems have included the floor giving way, and repeated issues with damp, leaks and flooding from the bathroom in the unit above.
‘I've had mould since the day I moved in … I lost 21 pairs of shoes and half my possessions to mould within the first six months, through flooding and that from outside.’
Eventually Dick’s ceiling collapsed because of leaking from the upstairs unit.
‘Housing wanted me to move out, leaving all my possessions in here, and put all my animals in a boarding kennel for three months. My dogs and me have never been separated,’ Dick said.
Dick asked for repairs and for modifications that would allow him to be safer, but these were refused without explanation.
‘Housing says I can't have timber floors, I've got to have carpet or vinyl. I'm not allowed to have security grills on the door or windows … But I've got neighbours that have got grills on their windows, and they've got timber floors … And my next-door neighbour, she's turned around and – she's just had a whole unit renovated. New bathroom, kitchen and all that for years now, and all of that. And they polished her timber floors. But for some reason, I'm not allowed to have a timber floor.’
At one time Dick was using a mobility scooter to get around and asked for an internal ramp to be built.
‘And Housing refused to put in a ramp, or even a temporary ramp, basically just don't do it. And yet the unit next door to me has a ramp in it,’ Dick said.
He is also frequently bothered by antisocial neighbours who have lived in the building for years. He complained to the housing agency, who told him to write a letter or send an email explaining his concerns.
‘Well, I don't know how to use an email. I don't even have an internet plan, and I have trouble writing letters. So you've got to be patient.’
Dick hand-delivered his letter of complaint to Housing.
‘When I went in there, [Penny], she said, “Oh, I can't submit that. That's disgusting, that writing,” and she retyped the letter for me. That's why I don't like writing, coz people make fun of my writing. It is like, as I've been told, I write like a 12-year-old.’
Dick receives NDIS funding which pays for a cleaner, but there have been multiple staff changes and the support workers are often unreliable, either turning up at unscheduled times or not turning up at all.
‘I said to [the NDIS care coordinator], “Sorry, [Annie], I don't want 'em back.”’
He hasn’t had a cleaner since.
‘Now, I struggle doing cleaning – that's why I don't want carpet, it's so hard to vacuum. I have a bad back, bad neck, back shoulders, permanent headache. I used to walk a lot. I can hardly walk now, with all the slips and falls I've had in this unit.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.