Rachel
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.
‘Sometimes we get tired of fighting for every little thing.’
Rachel and her daughters have inherited progressive deafness. Rachel has a small amount of residual hearing. Because she grew up in the hearing world, she does not sign and relies wholly on lip-reading and text captioning.
When Rachel first encountered CapTel captioned phones about two years ago, she ‘cried with joy’. ‘[It was] the first time I felt independent and in full control of my phone communications,’ she told the Royal Commission.
The TTY (Teletypewriter) telephone service Rachel had used until then was laborious to set up, required interruptions during the phone call, with each party having to end their part of the conversation with the signal to ‘go ahead’, and the typist interrupting to ask people to slow down so they could capture everything in text.
‘It is a very time consuming process,’ Rachel explained, ‘and caused me to hate making phone calls.’
But when the CapTel system was introduced, Rachel could contact the person she wanted to call directly. It was much faster to set up the call – especially important in an emergency – and there was no need for the relay officer to interrupt.
‘I began to enjoy phone calls – a right which so many decision-makers take for granted,’ says Rachel.
She was devastated when she found out the Australian Government intended to scrap the CapTel system. Rachel and other deaf people will have to return to the old system.
‘I can't really go back to the old system,’ said Rachel.
‘A big factor in my mental health, depression and burnout has been my social isolation … Even with my profound deafness I can still do many things, but the one thing I cannot do for myself is provide a telecommunications service that allows me to have independence and equality and engage in normal conversation in a discreet manner.’
‘Sometimes we make decisions which save money. But at what cost? Human dignity?’
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.