Ashleigh and Courtney
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.
Ashleigh, early 60s, has cerebral palsy and lives in a group home.
Her sister Courtney is her guardian.
In the mid-2010s, Courtney was living in a different city but was in regular contact with Ashleigh.
One day the provider emailed her saying Ashleigh had had ‘a bump on the nose’.
That night, she received a phone call from a doctor who urgently needed her consent to operate on Ashleigh.
‘She was in a critical condition … If they didn’t operate she would die,’ Courtney told the Royal Commission.
A staff member had not put the rails on Ashleigh’s bed.
‘My sister rolled out of the bed, straight down. She can't protect herself. She can't put her hands out to protect herself. And she fell down, face-down, on concrete.’
Courtney demanded an investigation into what happened.
The provider tried ‘to get on the front foot’ and made an application to the administrative tribunal to remove Courtney as Ashleigh’s guardian.
They told the tribunal Courtney had mistreated Ashleigh when she was in hospital.
An investigator discovered a manager had visited Ashleigh in hospital with a tape recorder and tried to get her to make false allegations against Courtney.
‘In her report, [the investigator] said, "The only abuse that has ever occurred here, in my opinion, is with this woman trying to coerce [Ashleigh] into making these statements.’
The tribunal found the allegations against Courtney had no basis. Ashleigh left the group home and lived with Courtney for a while.
While recovering from an injury, Courtney began to worry about what would happen to Ashleigh if she died. She spoke to Ashleigh about having a ‘trial period’ in a group home run by a different provider.
The trial was abysmal because the home wasn’t adequately staffed and the co-tenants were not compatible.
But the provider refused to let Ashleigh leave.
‘My sister has to make that decision. And my sister had no idea that she was being put in there permanently, and I gave absolutely no indication to anybody that she was going there permanently. This was a trial situation.’
The provider made a claim to the administrative tribunal to remove Courtney as guardian, saying she inappropriately removed Ashleigh from the group home.
The tribunal dismissed the claim, but only after Courtney spent a considerable amount of time and energy on the proceedings.
Courtney believes the claim was motivated entirely by the organisation’s desire to retain Ashleigh’s NDIS funding.
Ashleigh moved back in with Courtney.
Initially they were able to find good, reliable support workers, but over time it became more difficult.
When Courtney became unwell, Ashleigh had to move to another group home.
The home turned out ‘to be just another institution, and a very dubious institution’.
Staff refused to help Ashleigh use the toilet.
‘If she's with one-to-one, they come to understand when she needs to go and they can just put her on the toilet. And it's just not a fuss,’ Courtney said. ‘But they just wanted to put her in pads 24/7. She had to defecate on the cushion most of the day.’
When Courtney complained, staff agreed to ‘three rostered times’ Ashleigh could go to the toilet each day.
‘This is abuse … not having the right to go to the toilet when you actually need to go.’
The provider has made an application to remove Courtney as guardian. The grounds for this application are ‘ridiculous’. They allege Ashleigh isn’t allowed ‘treat food’, doesn’t have enough towels and sometimes wears Courtney’s clothes.
‘It’s become like a witch-hunt … It's just been a really, really difficult, awful process … My sister is 60 years old and she continues to be forced to live in these kinds of institutional arrangements.’
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.