Mila, Asher and Nancy
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.
Asher is a young First Nations man with a disability.
Mila works in an education team in the learning and wellbeing area where she manages suspension and expulsion. She met Asher and his mother, Nancy, following a referral from a First Nations education team.
Mila told the Royal Commission that Asher’s school had suspended him for more than 100 days, about ‘half the school year’. Asher was about to be expelled from school and his mum was trying to get him enrolled in another public school. She was confused as to what she should do next.
Mila emailed the principals of both schools to clarify the situation. She had received no reply by the end of the school year, and assumed the matter was resolved.
She was surprised when Nancy contacted her before school resumed and told her the matter wasn’t resolved and Asher ‘was keen to start school when all his peers returned’.
Mila met with Nancy and Asher. Nancy told her Asher had tried to end his life twice over the Christmas break ‘resulting in hospitalisation and police involvement’. Nancy was ‘distraught’ and confided she had ‘mental health issues and was not very literate’. She had trouble understanding the letters from the school and reports from counsellors.
Realising the matter was urgent, Mila contacted the proposed new school to progress Asher’s enrolment.
The school refused to engage and referred her back to the First Nations education team as they were ‘managing the issue’.
Mila emailed her supervisor, team coordinator and the area education director expressing her view that there had been ‘noteworthy breaches to significant government legislation and departmental policy’, and it was ‘no wonder the family have no idea what is happening’.
A meeting was organised with the education director and both principals. Mila emailed her supervisor requesting she be included in the meeting. Her email cited the breaches to the relevant legislation she believed had occurred.
Mila’s supervisor granted her request, but informed her she must make a formal apology to Asher’s current principal, as he had been upset by her email. Mila was ‘perplexed’. ‘This has always been my role – “warn me when a train is coming”,’ she explained.
Mila refused to apologise.
‘I was merely identifying potential breaches of policy and legislation.’
Nonetheless, ‘things began to move’. After many meetings with departmental officers, Asher’s enrolment in his original school was resumed. Mila believes her insistence, with Nancy’s permission, ‘that the attempted suicides be discussed openly with all involved … changed the school’s position’.
Not long after, Mila received formal notification that she had breached the code of conduct for her ‘failure to comply with a request – apologising to the principal’.
She believes the situation shows how a large organisation has difficulty adhering to the Disability and Discrimination Act.
'When orthodoxy is challenged, the department fights back by looking for a scapegoat, rather than address its failures and engage principals with further training about their responsibilities.’
Mila says the ‘sorry’ incident represents the education department’s ignorance and complacency when managing matters that involve students with a disability.
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.