Amber
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.
‘People with disabilities are not a resource for [able-bodied people] to exploit.’
Amber is in her 50s and lives with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, a major depressive disorder and dissociative identity disorder.
‘My journey actually started in [the 1970s] where I experienced a gay bashing from family members,’ Amber told the Royal Commission. ‘But because of the support that I received within the school environment, I achieved a good level of health and that receded into the background.’
Amber became a social worker and in the 1990s worked with an intellectual disability service ‘advocating for people with disabilities and their families’.
‘This all started to unravel after I advocated very strongly for a little Aboriginal girl who was in the child respite centre. She presented with severe intellectual disability, lots of behavioural issues, but more significantly she also had continuous bowel movement which wasn’t being managed by the centre.’
Amber said she made the centre send the girl to hospital, which treated her for several medical conditions. Amber developed a program to help residential staff identify medical issues in people with intellectual disability.
When she told her manager about the poor level of care at the centre, they said she was ‘being insubordinate’.
‘I think that I was simply doing what I was trained to do as a social worker.’
Amber said that in retaliation, her manager sent her to work in a home of ‘high risk male clients’.
‘The male staffer there at the time said to me that he was very surprised that I was visiting as no female staff were allowed in on the premises. I had to endure, I guess … a conversation with him with the young men who were engaged in explicit sexual acts, and it was extremely intimidating and quite overwhelming.’
Amber felt bullied and traumatised. She eventually resigned to start her own counselling business and continue her university research into levels of care in disability services.
When Amber told colleagues her research found families weren’t getting the level of service they needed, they ridiculed her and someone made a complaint to the university.
‘The research was confiscated, and I was subjected to what I can only describe as organisational violence.’
Nonetheless, Amber completed her degree.
After a series of traumatic events, she was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder linked to the ‘gay bashing’ she experienced as a teenager.
‘One moment I would be me, myself as I present today. Other times I would be presenting as a 15-year-old. Other times I would be presenting as a 30-year-old, without necessarily being aware that that was going on.’
Amber said that when she applied for accreditation to practice within the mental health industry, a supervisor used Amber ‘without informed consent’ as a subject for her own research.
‘I eventually had a complete fragmentation in my personality which resulted in the manifestation of a dissociative identity disorder.’
Amber told the Royal Commission that when she complained about being exploited, the industry body dismissed her complaints and acted ‘in a way that protected their interests, but didn’t do anything to look after [hers]’.
Amber said it destroyed her reputation.
‘I think you can see that there’s not a lot of benefit attached to patiently attempting to address issues of the mismanagement of people with disabilities. You’re likely to end up with a disability yourself, which is my story.’
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.