Ariadne and Kitty
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.
Kitty is the mother of three children, two of whom have disability. Her daughter, Ariadne, is autistic and has cerebral palsy. She also experiences anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Ariadne’s first primary school offered some support for Ariadne, but seemed unable to properly manage her support needs. The school decreased supports further the following year, so Kitty moved Ariadne to another school.
The second school had a specialist unit for children with disability. It was a small multi-age classroom with one teacher and two teacher aides. The next two years were ‘incredibly happy’ for Ariadne. Then Kitty was told that, under a new government inclusive education policy, Ariadne would move into mainstream schooling.
The school assured Kitty they would manage Ariadne’s transition to mainstream schooling properly and meet her support needs. However, the promised supports never came. The children were taken from their familiar multi-age classroom and put into different classrooms according to age. There was one teacher aide between two grades. ‘So there’s one aide basically running around the school all day, and the children with disability … getting half an hour here or there.’
Kitty said teachers ‘didn’t understand … the complexities of [her daughter’s] diagnosis, and were unwilling to give her reasonable adjustments’ to help her cope.
Teachers never explained to Ariadne’s classmates what it meant to be autistic or to have cerebral palsy, so some children excluded Ariadne or made ‘certain comments’ to her. Kitty believes there was some resentment from classmates because of needing to wait for the children with disability to catch up. An inclusion officer told Ariadne not to tell others if she was depressed or kids wouldn’t be friends with her. She was ‘being taught about resilience and how to put a smile on your face even though you might be feeling depressed’.
Some teachers openly said they didn’t want to teach children with disability. There was one teacher who did want to support Ariadne, but the school didn’t provide him with the assistance he needed to do so.
Kitty said Ariadne’s anxiety increased on school mornings. She lost the motivation to learn and, one day, held a knife to her wrist during an anxiety attack. Her psychiatrist diagnosed Ariadne with PTSD.
Kitty communicated her concerns to the school but felt that she was an ‘annoyance’. She sent the psychiatrist’s report to the principal outlining her daughter’s declining mental state and suicidal ideation. She approached the education department, but got no response. Autism education specialists stepped in and made recommendations to the school, but these were never implemented.
The school’s principal told Kitty ‘what we needed for our daughter, she was unable to supply’, and the only options were distance education or homeschooling.
Ariadne now attends an independent school with small class sizes, many teacher aides and an onsite psychologist. The school is supportive and will try something new if a certain approach isn’t working. There is a focus on Ariadne’s mental health and she feels safe. The school fees are ‘quite expensive’, but the outcomes have been positive.
‘If you’re putting a child into mainstream [classrooms], the schools have to make sure the teachers are properly trained and that the neurotypical children are actually informed … what’s going on.’
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.