Gaye
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.
‘I've worked in government my whole life. I know how you slip through the cracks. It's easy to do. I don't have a problem with that [for myself], but when I hear it with so many people, that's what tells you that there's something really wrong out there.’
Several years ago Gaye developed peripheral polyneuropathy, a neurological condition. ‘I can’t feel anything from the neck down,’ she told the Royal Commission.
Gaye’s in her 50s and needs a power wheelchair to access the community and a hoist to prevent her falling in her home. Four years ago, the NDIS agreed to support her.
‘My first plan said, “Hoist lift chair, shower commode, bed, wheelchair.” I've been fighting the NDIS for four years to get that equipment.’
Gaye said the NDIS ‘lost the quotes’ for the equipment and spent so long responding to her occupational therapist’s reports they became ‘out of date’.
Gaye asked the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review her funding. Meanwhile, she asked the NDIS why the wheelchair and hoist still hadn’t arrived. ‘They came back with a response of, "Looked into it. The funds can't be released while you're at the AAT.”’
‘I'm pushed around in an office chair … I feel like I'm living in a third world country. I cannot believe that the most vulnerable in society can be left with such suffering.’
Gaye regularly falls because she can’t feel her legs, so she can’t access her shower without the equipment.
‘I've gone seven years without [a shower]. Like, what sort of world am I living in where I don't have access to running water?’
Without a wheelchair, Gaye is also stuck at home.
‘People complain about being in lockdown. I've been in lockdown for seven years, you know? And then when I've complained to the NDIS about not being able to access the community their answer is, "We pay [for] a support worker." Well, what do they think the support worker's doing? Carrying me on their back? Like, they seem to think that as long as they're paying for support hours that's all a disabled person could possibly need.’
The NDIS also told Gaye she qualified for specialist disability accommodation.
‘But they approved it over a year ago now … I wanted a house, but they came back with a two-bedroom, two-participant [shared] apartment.’
Gaye told the Royal Commission the NDIS is taking away her independence.
‘I'm not actually going forward to independence, I'm going backwards into dependence.’
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.