Gage and Frances
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.
Gage, Frances’s son, is in his early 30s and lives with cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability and epilepsy. He doesn’t speak.
A few years ago, Gage lived in a group home where he was sustaining bruising and scratches. The provider told Frances that Gage was clumsy.
‘You know, tripped up the stairs … banging himself on the bed and all these things, so every time I asked there was always as excuse for it,’ Frances told the Royal Commission.
Then one day, another resident pushed Gage, who fell and broke his hip. After Gage was admitted to hospital, Frances discovered the resident had assaulted her son many times.
‘When I got the files there was 64 incidents where this other young man was beating the crap out of my son. That explains the bangs on his head, the lumps on his head, the black eyes, the cuts on his arms, the bruises on his legs.’
Gage’s hip healed in six weeks, but doctors kept him in hospital for eight months while Frances searched for new accommodation. During that time, the NDIA stopped Gage’s funding. Without support, he was unable to leave the hospital and access the community.
Frances said that with Gage confined ‘within four walls’, his behaviour deteriorated. This made it difficult to find him a new home because ‘no-one would take him’.
Gage did eventually find a new group home, but Frances said she shouldn’t have to ‘keep banging [her] head against a wall for years and years and years just for something to happen’.
She told the Royal Commission carers should ‘feel that they can do something without having to jump through these hoops and red tape, and put their life on hold when they are looking after people with disabilities’.
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.