Alexandre
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
Alexandre, who is in his mid-30s, was hit by car when he was a child.
‘I was 10 turning 11 when it happened,’ he told the Royal Commission, ‘and it left me with a lot of permanent, long-term disabilities. But it's primarily the traumatic brain injury and spine injury and countless other issues.’
As a teenager, Alexandre ‘had to build a very thick skin’.
‘So by the time I became an adult I was pretty used to the abuse … the bullying … the name-calling and such, like anyone else who grew up in that time.’
Alexandre said he ‘didn't get any help’ when he went to university. There weren’t any ‘fixes’ back then.
‘But now there is. There's new technology, new medications.’
Yet he feels the ‘mentality is exactly the same’.
‘[People] don’t see past your disability’, he said. ‘When you’re in a wheelchair, by definition, people are looking down on you. Physically and metaphorically.’
Alexandre has experience working as a disability consultant and mentor, and has been ‘on several statewide committees’. He really wants to ‘help people in drug and alcohol rehab’, because he’s ‘lived it’.
‘I had to go through some very difficult times, you know, suicidal ideation. Basically, I went through drug and alcohol problems … I can help people with trauma … My entire life's journey has got to this moment where I am ready, willing and capable to help.’
But Alexandre says ‘the entire system from top to bottom’ is ‘hamstringing’ him.
He recently applied for a few openings in suicide prevention and mental health. They were ‘consumer advisory positions’ calling for someone with ‘lived experience’ of disability, yet he was knocked back each time.
Alexandre says these jobs never go to a person with disability. It’s ‘a friend of a friend who has a sister who is disabled’ who gets them.
He said it’s not fair that his lived experience is being overlooked.
‘You know, I don't get any credit because I don't have any academic qualification … Because I've got the brain injury it's very difficult for me to study.’
‘[People] don't expect you to succeed,’ he said. This leaves him with an ‘an overwhelming sense of hopelessness’.
‘You keep hearing, "You do have value. You can give back to society." But the minute you try, it's barrier after barrier after barrier … Without my career, my life means nothing.’
The thing that keeps Alexandre going is his desire to help others who are also ‘alienated and isolated’.
‘All I want out of my life is to take the experience, take the pain, take the abuse, take the bullying, take what I learnt and help people. That’s why I'm so passionate about speaking in public and advocating for people with disabilities.’
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.