Taylor and Zara
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.
‘[Taylor’s] experience is not shocking or outrageous,’ says Zara. ‘It hasn’t been one or more big events … [but] over years my child had experienced many instances of unwitting exclusion at school.’
Taylor has dyslexia. Zara told the Royal Commission there is very limited support available at school, but often her daughter is not able to access it. According to the school, Taylor ‘is not bad enough’ and doesn’t ‘qualify’ because there are other children who need the support more. ‘Our child still has a disability’, says Zara, ‘it doesn’t go away’.
Zara also says that, despite arriving at school with a diagnosis of specific learning disorder and ADHD, Taylor was never issued with an appropriate individual education plan. Zara has ‘had to fight just for easy to implement things’, for example allowing Taylor to sit on a chair instead of the floor, or to access freely available assistive technology to allow equal access. ‘The school leadership is highly resistant to engaging with us on implementing meaningful adjustments and accommodations,’ she says.
‘The predominant literacy pedagogy, balanced literacy, does not work for my child, yet [Taylor has] been forced to try and learn using this. It failed and with the constant failure came poor self‐esteem.’
Taylor’s school experiences include being threatened with suspension in grade 2, being made to pick up the class’s rubbish when she couldn’t draw neatly in grade 3, being told on a weekly basis throughout grade 5 to ‘just play games on the laptop’ because ‘what’s the point’, and kept in at lunch and recess countless times.
Taylor has developed performance anxiety as result of her school experiences, has taken extended periods off to deal with the anxiety and has spoken of ‘wanting to die’.
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.