Martyn and Kristin
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.
‘We were literally fighting every single day. Every week. Every term. Every year. It was very frustrating.’
Kristin is the mother of Martyn, who has a chromosomal abnormality, intellectual disability, autism and a range of health conditions. Martyn recently graduated from high school.
‘All the kids accepted him. There was never any bullying. Nobody spoke badly about [Martyn]. They loved him. They loved him to bits,’ Kristin told the Royal Commission. ‘The whole bullying thing came from the teachers and the principal. That’s where the issues were.’
Martyn started kindergarten in a non-government school.
‘They just believed that [Martyn] should never have been at that school … There was a message where the teacher said, “You know, he should be going to a school down the road.”’
Kristin kept Martyn at the school, but it refused to give him an individual learning plan.
‘I mean, we were only asking for [the learning plan] which [Martyn] was entitled to. And we were called into that meeting and [the principal] said, “You know, stop telling us what to do. You can’t tell teachers what to do.”’
In year 5, Martyn’s teacher wouldn’t let him socialise with other students at the school.
‘If he showed any kind of way of trying to make a friend or whatever, she took that away. Like, literally every time. She would make sure that child sat on the opposite side of the room. He wasn’t allowed to talk to them.’
Kristin said that when Martyn moved to high school in the same system, his school records were ‘literally thrown away’.
‘So, they knew nothing about what [Martyn] was like, what he needed during the day. All that made it very difficult for [him].’
Martyn has irritable bowel syndrome. One of the senior staff members told Kristin that Martyn’s syndrome is contagious and he shouldn’t be there.
‘We kept saying that it wasn’t contagious, no-one’s going to catch it … And he said, “It’s not negotiable.” Like, basically he cannot go to school. And we just felt like, yeah, there was not much else we could do, but to hopefully find another school that would be more supportive.’
Kristin enrolled Martyn in a government high school.
‘Unfortunately, it wasn’t much better.’
The high school promised to be inclusive, but wouldn’t allow Martyn to do work experience.
‘They actually made him stay in school and do gardening. So, he never got that opportunity to go out and work with other people outside of the school.’
One teacher made Martyn sit in the classroom on a tarpaulin inside a makeshift tent.
‘He wasn’t able to communicate that he needed to go to the toilet, so then he just soiled himself. And they thought that was a really good idea … Just him in the corner against a wall, so that when he was looking, it was at the wall. So they could not see him.’
Kristin told the Royal Commission governments should apply a national standard to all schools, to make them ‘inclusive to all children’ regardless of their disability.
‘At least have some kind of basic standard so that all of the children in the playground, and the children with disabilities, they are not just standing there, they are not just sitting there. They are engaged, they are encouraged to engage with other children, play on the equipment. Just because they can’t do it, doesn’t mean that they aren’t allowed to do it. And the same [in] the classroom.’
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.