Miguel
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.
Miguel is in his early 60s and has cognitive problems due to a brain injury. He has been with the same disability service provider for most of his life.
When he was about 30, the company moved him into a hostel where a staff member physically abused him, Miguel told the Royal Commission.
‘The person who did this told me the next time … would be better. And they also told me that they did these things to other people in the hostel … and that they liked it.’
The abuse ‘messed with his mind, and made him feel really sad and unsafe’. It’s had a negative effect on his life. ‘It makes me sad and upset a lot,’ Miguel said. He has difficult trusting other people.
In the early 2000s, the provider relocated him to a group home where he lives today. He tried several times to tell staff and management about the abuse.
‘They didn’t want to listen to me,’ he said. ‘I was so upset afterwards. I spent a lot of time in bed and in my room. I cried a lot. I yelled a lot. [They] wanted me to move houses. They said I was too noisy and needed to leave. I didn’t want to.’
Miguel said the provider first forced him to move to another room. He ‘didn’t like that’, because it ‘wasn’t comfy’ and there was no natural light.
‘[They] tried to kick me out of my room and kick me out of the house. [They] gave me eviction notices twice.’
Miguel went to an appeals tribunal to ‘fight the evictions’ and won both times. But he’s not happy at the hostel. He struggles to have any privacy because ‘there’s no room’.
He said that since COVID the house has been short-staffed and support workers are negligent in their duties.
‘Staff are sometimes on the internet all day … not giving me medication at the right time … [They] often forget and I have to remind them. Once my tongue was bleeding and wouldn’t stop. I asked the staff to call the nurse on call.’
The staff member ‘had no idea what a nurse on call was’.
Support workers won’t take him to see a doctor or dentist when he needs to, or get prescription medicine for him. Miguel said the manager asks him ‘to stay in bed … up to 2 pm some days’.
Miguel says the hostel relies too much on his family to support him, and he’s ‘too old’ for that.
‘I don’t need my family to take me to everything. They don’t need to know everything about my life. I need some independence.’
The provider has a new CEO who has ‘put some time in’ getting to know him. She’s met with him several times ‘to try and help with this issue’.
Miguel hopes it will lead to him having more say in his living arrangements.
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.