Amos
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.
Amos is in his early 50s and has bipolar disorder. In the early 2010s he enrolled at university for a second degree.
In his application, Amos provided documentation from his GP that explained his medical situation, how bipolar disorder affected him and how he was managing it. The GP noted Amos had a ‘considerable’ disability affecting his concentration and cognitive capacity.
‘So, it’s a “considerable” disability and it’s somewhat episodic and, you know, sometimes it makes it difficult for me to study. And sometimes I don’t study at all during semesters and have to take time off, which I spend a lot of … just lying in bed, as I am currently at the moment.’
Amos registered with the university’s disability service, but didn’t check in with them regularly.
‘I don't think I went and made one of these mental health disability plans or something like that. I think I just flagged that I might need some extra time for essays sometimes and, you know, I might need to take some time off.’
Despite having this information about Amos and his disability recorded in its system, after some years the university expelled him for ‘slow progress’. When Amos inquired further, the person he met with explained that the university believed Amos had gone ‘AWOL’.
‘I said, “Don’t be stupid. I can’t be AWOL. I'm not in the army.” He said, “That’s what we call it, absent without leave, and you were absent without leave” … Well, anyway they threw me out for being AWOL and then I wrote to them and tried to, you know, get un-thrown out, and they didn’t listen to it.’
The university then charged Amos fees for the courses he’d been expelled from. Amos argued this decision and was successful.
‘I fought tooth and nail about that and they must've thought, “Well, you know, he's on solid ground here” because they gave me my money back, which is pretty unusual.’
Amos passed his earlier courses with a high credit average and considers his expulsion to be unjust.
‘So basically … it would've been no difficulty for them at all to just let me progress, you know, at my pace … It’s not onerous on them in any way. It hurts no-one, and they have to make reasonable adjustments, and that was a reasonable adjustment. But, you know, those people high up are not even prepared to make the slightest bit of flexibility, and it’s particularly annoying because they go on and on in their marketing brochures about just how fantastic the pastoral care is.’
He believes universities should be required to justify these kinds of actions.
‘I suspect this would be something like a reverse onus placed on the educational institution to, you know, maybe demonstrate that they had a good reason to throw you out. Rather than you having to prove that, you know, they did the wrong thing, they should have to prove that they didn’t do the wrong thing.’
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.