Colt, Abraham and Yumi
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.
‘Even with all of this insider knowledge, education for my children with disabilities is still problematic. I can only imagine how it might challenge other parents without the same knowledge.’
Yumi is a teacher. She has two sons, Abraham and Colt, who have neurological and psychosocial disabilities. They are both in primary school and each has an individualised education program (IEP) to help teachers support them at school.
‘I have a long history of working with these schools to support my children,’ Yumi told the Royal Commission. ‘For the most part, this has been a successful partnership. However, there have been some serious incidents that have caused mental health problems for my children and consequently myself.’
Colt has oppositional defiance disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety.
‘[He] loves music, but his behaviour is very difficult to manage,’ Yumi said. ‘He has structures and processes in place to support this, such as being able to leave the classroom to go to a calm space when he is feeling angry and out of control.’
One day Colt’s music teacher told him he was ‘playing the instruments too roughly’. When she asked him to stop he became angry and ran out of the room.
When Colt returned to the room for his belongings, the teacher ‘insisted he apologise before he was allowed to enter the room’. Colt tried to push past the teacher.
The teacher told Colt he couldn’t return to music class until he agreed to certain rules ‘such as not playing with instruments while the teacher is talking’.
‘[The teacher] wanted a sit-down meeting and another apology and to establish her own guidelines with [Colt], different to those in his IEP, before he was allowed back into the classroom.’
Yumi said the teacher ‘created a very difficult situation’ by not following the agreed IEP.
‘I do know many teachers who pay lip service to the policy and guidelines, but will not support them in their own classroom. Consequently, students are at risk from teachers who continue to enact poor practice.’
Abraham has autism.
He had always enjoyed school camps. But recently he was sent home from camp after a physical altercation with another boy in his cabin.
‘A larger boy was picking on a younger boy. My son finds conflict difficult and told the bigger boy to shut up, the boy said, “Make me”, so my son attempted to do this.’
Yumi said the person in charge of the camp hadn’t implemented Abraham’s IEP. He wasn’t supervised in the cabin, and when he became angry he had no safe place to go and no familiar teachers to turn to for help.
‘Consequently, he tried to deal with this himself.’
Yumi said the other boy was allowed to stay ‘despite the school rule that all those involved in physical altercations will be sent home’.
Abraham cried on the way home.
‘This was the last week before the school holidays and he had two weeks ahead of him with no contact with friends and the school looming.’
Yumi said Abraham has since refused to go to school and has acquired post-traumatic stress disorder. He cut himself with a knife and is being treated for depression.
‘Whilst there has been an improvement in his mental health, he will always struggle with the consequences of this incident and those that were a direct result of it.’
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.