Salina
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.
Salina, in her mid-40s, has a neuropathic disorder that causes episodes of intense pain. She needs support to complete many daily tasks, including showering.
Salina was diagnosed several years ago, and her then-partner became her main carer. Salina said he took advantage of her disability to sexually abuse her. He would help her to shower and ‘force himself’ on her every time.
‘It got to the point where I stopped having showers deliberately so that I wouldn't be in that position.’
When Salina started receiving the NDIS she was able to pay for assistance with her daily needs. To get away from her partner, she moved interstate. Once there she used Crime Stoppers online to report his sexual assaults. But the next steps in getting police to respond are proving difficult.
Salina called police both in the state where she had lived and in the one she had moved to. In the state she’d moved from, police told her she had to make her complaint in person.
‘They said that they can't take a statement without being able to see me face to face. That was all I was told. And I've tried many, many times,’ she told the Royal Commission.
‘They said they can't do anything because I'm over here, that over here has to take a statement. The police here say that because it's historic that they won't come out to the premises to take my statement to report these things … I get sent back to, “You'll have to come in to one of our offices.”’
Salina’s condition makes this almost impossible.
‘I have a lot of trouble getting into a vehicle, so getting down to a police station is quite an onerous task for me,’ she explained. ‘I can't even sit in a chair for long enough for them to take my statement now if I'm totally honest … If I manage to get there I'm not going to be able to tell them very much without needing to lie down and have some exceptional painkillers.’
Salina feels ‘like a ping pong [ball] that's gone across a ping pong table a hundred times’. She doesn’t think her situation is unique.
‘I feel that a lot of disabled people aren't going to be able to report when the incidents are occurring because you're reliant on this person for your basic daily needs – food, clothing, being able to dress yourself. And that when we do get to a place where we are able to report these things without fear of repercussions from that person, we're still not able to.’
Salina thinks police should offer online meetings as an option for people like her.
‘Since COVID a lot of medical things have become much more available to people like me because we can do a video or telehealth,’ she said. ‘There needs to be a little bit more in that sort of arena with reporting to police too.’
She would also like police services to create a new role of ‘disabled persons liaison officers’. These officers would be trained to meet the needs of people with disability within the context of the police system.
‘If a person like myself can't attend a police station to make the formal report … especially across state borders, and there's an officer that's dedicated to attending the premises and actually speaking with a disabled person … there's more opportunity for the disabled to be able to report these things that go on.’
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.