Hattie
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.
Hattie is a First Nations woman who is a member of the LGBTIQ+ community. She has post-traumatic stress disorder and a psychosocial disability. She has survived cancer. While living in different states she has repeatedly faced the same problems in relation to managing her disability and interacting with police.
Hattie prefers not to use, if she can help it, ‘a lot of western medications’.
‘I much prefer Natural Alternatives such as herbs and diet,’ she told the Royal Commission.
But she has been ‘forcefully medicated’ by state mental health bodies. ‘This did not happen just once, it happened several times across 3 or 4 states.’
Hattie feels her rights as a mental health patient and as a First Nations woman were not respected during her treatment.
She told us about a trainee doctor at a private hospital. ‘[He] purposely gave me a haematoma by reefing out a cannula from my hand. When I approached him for a bigger pad to stop the blood from squirting out he literally laughed in my face.’
And after recent surgery for cancer a doctor told her she must take a certain medication or be ‘sedated and held down’.
Hattie said she has also found police officers to be, in many cases, unsympathetic and untrained in dealing with people with disability.
One week, Hattie presented at several police stations asking for help locating a former partner after a domestic violence incident. Each time she was refused assistance.
‘I then ended up on the streets … even writing this out is traumatising me right now, thinking about what I’ve been through.’
‘I’ve been taken advantage of by police in three different states because of my disabilities and mental health issues. I was nothing but kind and polite to them but I was taken advantage of … laughed at and mocked.’
These incidents are clear in Hattie’s memory, but she also recalls acts of kindness that moved her and encouraged her.
For example, she told the Royal Commission about doctors who listened to her and acknowledged what she was feeling before offering help. There was also a ‘lovely police officer’ who ‘made toast, biscuits and tea’ and allowed her to sleep inside the police station.
Hattie would like to see better training for mental health doctors and nurses, beginning with psychological testing. She suggests the system needs more oversight.
‘Sending private investigators in to places to find out what’s going on is literally the best way.’
She hopes the NDIS can be expanded to support more alternative therapies for people with disability.
Hattie would also like the disability sector to be given more media attention.
‘I spent six nights on the streets … I think the Prime Minister should try a week.’
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.