Aurelia and Seshna
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.
‘We’re the kids that don’t fit in.’
Aurelia is autistic and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and mental health problems. She’s decided not to go to school anymore ‘because of the way people treat’ her, she told the Royal Commission.
‘Like students and staff. I'm going to do distance ed next year, coz it's really stressful. I've been bullied ever since I was in kindy … And I thought they were my friends. Like, those were the only people who would hang out with me but then they still bullied me.’
Aurelia’s teacher was ‘really horrible’. She sent her all the time into ‘the shame corner’.
‘And I was stuck there for the whole lesson … I dreaded class time in kindy.’
By year 1, Aurelia was ‘feeling so insecure that she hid under the teacher's desk’, said her mother Seshna.
‘And, so, for the entire first term, the teacher just left her under there.’
At lunch times, Aurelia just tried ‘to tag along with people’ but ended up ‘wandering around the whole school just doing nothing’.
‘I'm like, "Well they don't want me." … People made fun of me.’
Aurelia changed school several times.
At one of the later schools, a teacher’s aide was supposed to assist Aurelia with lessons. Instead, they grouped her with other children with learning disabilities and got them to play board games.
‘They'd just exclude me from the class … And, so, I fell so behind in school.’
Aurelia told teachers several times that she didn’t want ‘to go and play’.
‘I wanted to join in the class. They didn't let me … That got me in trouble. [The teacher’s aide] would just yell at me … So I would get no support.’
The principal at her current high school recently suspended Aurelia.
‘For basically no reason … I'm so scared of her, coz she terrifies me.’
Seshna said the principal ‘used physical restraint’ on Aurelia. She ‘pulled her by her arm’ out of the class.
‘And that really hurt,’ Aurelia said. ‘I was so scared, and I just needed mum. She was like, "If you call her, you're going to be in such serious trouble." … I was screaming and crying.’
Seshna said Aurelia’s experience of school deteriorated to the point that she ended up in hospital for weeks.
‘She developed a neurological disorder. Where all the stress and anxiety she already experiences from being a beautiful neurodiverse person was coming out in the extreme through her body … That is why it's been decided that she's not returning to school.’
Aurelia would like to see children with disability welcomed at mainstream schools and ‘definitely feels that awareness is the start’. She finds special schools and support classes ‘demeaning’ and hates that her learning has been so disrupted.
‘I want to learn,’ she said. ‘It doesn't matter what school I go to, it's just the school environment. There's so many dementors there … I just feel miserable the whole time, and then as soon as I get into the car and get home, I just burst into tears. Just feels like – like, my soul’s just sucked.’
There is one reason she doesn’t want to leave.
‘I actually had friends, and I have friends at the moment. We all have some mental health issues, and – and all have anxiety. For the first time they're actually proper friends, they understand me.’
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.