Jewel and Adrienne

‘I was close to being fired … how can I focus on my job when [Jewel] is suicidal, when I'm fighting with principals? … It's not just time, but it's your emotional energy and your intellectual energy.’

Jewel has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder and is autistic.

Adrienne, her mum, told the Royal Commission that Jewel didn’t receive her autism diagnosis until she was almost a teenager. She believes specialists ‘don’t recognise the symptoms’ as quickly in girls.

Jewel’s experience at her first primary school was ‘very positive’.

The family had to relocate for work and Jewel attended the local state school.

Adrienne told the principal Jewel had ADHD and asked if her psychologist could observe and support her in the classroom. The principal refused. Only the school psychologist or NDIS funded psychologists could attend school. The waiting list for the school psychologist was very long and students with ADHD can’t receive NDIS funding.

Adrienne asked if she could have regular meetings with the principal and Jewel’s teacher, but again they refused.

Teachers complained Jewel was ‘loud and distracting and moving too much’. One teacher made her sit at the teacher’s desk ‘behind a wall of books’.

The principal would often scream at Jewel for minor things such as not sitting still on her chair.

Jewel’s skills declined. At the start she was able to do multiplication and division. When she left, after three terms, she couldn’t even do addition and subtraction.

Adrienne tried to make a complaint to the education department but discovered ‘the principal is king and that’s it’.

Adrienne enrolled Jewel at a new school in term 4 but she only stayed for one term.

Jewel began asking Adrienne sexually explicit questions such as, ‘What does fingering mean?’ She discovered older boys in year 4 were talking about sex and ‘making sexual movements’ encouraging her to remove her clothes. ‘It was really awful.’

Adrienne told the teacher who was ‘horrified’ and said she would keep the boys and girls apart. The principal, however, was dismissive, telling her ‘kids will be kids’. ‘Kids play doctor, it’s not a big deal,’ he said, suggesting Jewel ‘not hang out with them’.

Jewel developed compulsive thoughts about sex and suicide for about 18 months, requiring psychiatric intervention and support.

Jewel’s new school was ‘much better’ and she felt ‘more included’. The deputy principal also had ADHD and made himself available to Jewel whenever she needed him. There were some incidents with boys showing her their genitals and wanting to touch her. Adrienne reported this immediately. She said the school ‘was great’ and ‘handled it really well’.

Two years later the deputy principal left the school and Jewel had a difficult final year.

Jewel had ‘sensory issues related to her hair’. She found it very difficult to wash and comb her hair and ‘it caused her a lot of pain to have her hair pulled up’. The new deputy principal decided to enforce the regulation that students tie up long hair. Staff targeted Jewel.

One time the deputy principal grabbed Jewel’s hair roughly and pulled it into a ponytail. He told her it wasn’t a sensory issue, ‘she’s just lazy’. Jewel was very embarrassed. After this, teachers wouldn’t let her in class unless she tied up her hair. Students started bullying her.

‘She started talking about killing herself again,’ Adrienne said.

Selecting a high school for Jewel was very difficult.

‘We were looking to take out personal loans so that our daughter would not be harassed because of her disability.’

Instead Adrienne decided to relocate so Jewel could attend a school that had a reputation for inclusiveness and fostering independent learners.

Jewel enjoys going to school now and was sad when she couldn’t attend because of coronavirus restrictions. She told Adrienne she’s surprised the teachers don’t yell at her.