Antonella
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.
‘You never know what you're walking into in terms of mental illness, and control is a big thing for me and to have that taken away is huge.’
Antonella, early 40s, told the Royal Commission she is a recovering addict.
A year ago, she became confused and disorientated and was admitted to hospital. She was diagnosed with a neurological syndrome that affects memory and the central nervous system.
Antonella was in a coma for more than a week. ‘They didn't expect me to live, and I had a period after I came out of ICU which was like, I call it my crazy period, about a week or so and I had absolutely no idea what was going on.’
During this time, somebody – Antonella is not sure who – made an application to the administrative tribunal, which placed her under the guardianship of the public trustee and guardian.
Two weeks later Antonella started to recover some of her cognitive function and met with a woman from the public guardian’s office. ‘The only thing going through my head at that particular point of time was I don't want to go into a home. I don’t need to go into home.’
The trustee and guardian withdrew all Antonella’s money from her primary account – she had several millions of dollars in accumulated wealth. They gave her a small weekly allowance for necessities and she sent them all her bills to pay. ‘But they were falling behind, like months and months and months’ and she spent ‘hours on the phone’, convincing her landlord and medical specialists to ‘bear with [her]’.
Antonella tried to contact the trustee and guardian but they refused to communicate with her.
‘The lack of control was really quite difficult for me, and I didn’t want to give them more information than, you know, I had to actually give. I was in the process of buying a house, so I couldn’t buy a house without them involved.’ Ultimately the trustee and guardian made it too difficult and the sale fell through.
Antonella was shocked by the fees the trustee and guardian charged and believes they still have around $45,000 of her money.
Antonella spoke to the social worker who told her ‘she had no idea this was actually the process’ and told Antonella she was ‘so, so sorry’.
After 10 weeks in hospital, Antonella had regained most of her memory and the feeling in her hands and feet and was discharged.
She then set about trying to ‘get out of guardianship’, but said it was ‘very very difficult’.
After ‘multiple assessments’ her psychiatrist wrote a letter supporting ‘the revocation of the guardianship’, but it wasn’t enough.
Antonella engaged a lawyer and eventually, after spending thousands of dollars and undergoing more assessments, the guardianship was revoked.
Antonella worries about people in a similar situation who don’t have the resources or the ability to advocate for themselves.
‘I just think about people that aren’t able to speak up for themselves, it’s awful.’
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.