Donny and Susannah
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.
‘[Donny’s] a completely normal bloke. He just wants to have a chat with you. It’s not that difficult. You know people need to have a little bit more understanding on asking what helps. A lot of people won’t ask him.’
Donny is in his 50s and has trouble talking and walking after a motorbike crash. He brought his support worker Susannah along to the Royal Commission to help him tell his story.
‘I guess the biggest thing is his aphasia in the sense that he can’t speak to people and a lot of people aren’t willing to speak to him,’ Susannah told us. ‘[Donny’s] got a lot of physical injuries and stuff also. He does have a lot of pain … a lot of mental health and frustrations as a result of the aphasia.’
Susannah said that before the crash Donny had ‘a lot of good things going for him in life’, but now people tend to ignore or patronise him because of the way he speaks and moves.
‘People insult his intelligence because they think … he is dumb as a result even though he is fully intellectually capable.’
After Donny received a compensation payout, the state’s civil and administrative tribunal decided he didn’t have the capacity to manage his own money.
‘They can’t see past the disability.’
The tribunal appointed a company to administer his finances.
‘[They] just did not help him at all with anything in, I think, the three-to-four years that they were his administrator.’
Susannah said Donny felt he was alone because financial advisers weren’t ‘understanding fully how to work with someone with a disability’.
Donny found an advocate to help him get the tribunal to revoke its decision and give him back financial control.
Susannah also told the Royal Commission about Donny’s struggle to use public transport.
‘Bus drivers in particular … just don’t seem to know what to do when someone with a wheelchair comes on the bus … So, you know, pull up in the correct spot for a start. Lower the bus down. Put the ramp. Go do the seats. Just little things like that.’
Donny has a card for drivers to read, but Susannah said many refuse to look at it.
‘It’s exhausting because they just don’t listen … often other passengers actually end up helping him, not the bus drivers.’
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.