Marcelo and Uwe
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.
‘The providers just brush, brush, brush abuse to the side.’
Uwe is a community care worker in his 40s who lives with bipolar disorder.
‘I deal with people with mental health issues plus the elderly and the disabled,’ he told the Royal Commission. ‘The main thing is you help people with their independence. The old-school providers, they don't do that … They act like they rule your life, don't treat you like a human.’
Uwe described the things he’d seen in his seven years in the industry as ‘absolutely disgraceful’. Until recently, he was working with a provider offering in-home supports for people with ‘very high needs’.
One client, Marcelo, has cerebral palsy. He is a wheelchair user and lives in a housing estate.
‘He should have been put in a home,’ Uwe said. ‘He was falling all over the place. Yeah, ambos there all the time.’
Marcelo has a problem with his bowels.
‘So you walk in there first thing in the morning and he would just be in his own diarrhoea. In his own mess.’
Other support staff were ‘very cruel and spiteful’ to him. One woman was in charge of buying Marcelo’s food and cooking for him.
‘She basically had food in there that even the dog wouldn't eat … Wouldn't take [him] out shopping. And she was doing really spiteful stuff in the house so he can't get to his food.’
Another employee was supposed to help with housework.
‘She comes in, says “I don't clean”, and locked herself in the bathroom for an hour and a half. So, yeah, dangerous.’
The family and other staff complained about the abuse, but the agency did nothing.
‘It is just a poisonous environment. And everyone winds up poisoned. The staff end up poisoned, clients end up poisoned.’
Marcelo eventually got accepted into a group home.
‘Which everyone just said it would be better for him. If he has an accident, he goes to the shower straight away … People can help him out when they can.’
But Marcelo’s sister and mother who were managing his finances decided against it. Uwe couldn’t understand why. It was a ‘brand-new home’ adapted to Marcelo’s disability.
Uwe said he ‘pretty much took over’ Marcelo’s affairs from there.
‘The bills weren't getting paid … I always thought he was broke … He had no clothes … But then I started seeing discrepancies on the statements.’
Uwe discovered Marcelo’s family were ‘misappropriating funds’.
‘Once again, you report, they don't do anything.’
Things got so bad, he had Marcelo ‘on suicide watch’. Marcelo was asking to see a doctor about euthanasia.
Uwe alerted the office.
‘No-one cared. The office didn't care. Absolutely no-one.’
Uwe went to ‘absolute war’ with the NDIA and the ombudsman to help change Marcelo’s circumstances. ‘He is good now,’ Uwe said.
Uwe is ‘a lot more optimistic’ about his current employer.
‘I have seen people getting treated nicely. They don't put you in a box to tell you what to do and tell them what to do,’ he said.
‘What I saw before was that bad, I just thought every care provider was just the same. I’m allowed to just do my job. Just help people out, give them a bit of a giggle and if they need a hand. Caring for people isn’t hard.’
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.