Baxter and Melania
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.
Baxter is in his late teens. He told the Royal Commission he likes motorbikes, computers and ‘hanging out’ with his mates. He has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), anxiety and psychosis.
Melania, his mother, has several children with ASD, ‘all in varying degrees’.
‘They've all had a hard time because we haven't had any supports,’ she said.
Baxter was diagnosed at six. Melania said he had ‘lots of learning difficulties’ at school. He was ‘really anxious’ with ‘quite significant dyslexia’, but there ‘were no supports in place’.
When he was about 15, Baxter ‘became very unwell’.
‘[He] started having these, like, psychotic features. So he'd have voices and whatever else. He didn't want to tell anyone … he thought he was going crazy.’
A couple of years ago, Baxter made his first suicide attempt. ‘He didn't know what was going on, so he thought his only way out was that,’ his mother explained.
His parents had Baxter admitted to an adolescent mental health facility to ‘keep him safe’.
After a couple of weeks, he went back to his family for a ‘homestay’, but his antipsychotics were yet to ‘kick in’ and ‘it did not go well’. He had lots of ‘psychotic episodes’ and was ‘very violent’, Melania said.
‘[One time, he] was sitting in the loungeroom, just slicing his arm and just – with blood coming out and with a knife – threatening to kill himself.’
Melania called an ambulance, but he couldn’t be admitted to the adolescent psych ward as it was full. She told the Royal Commission there are less than two dozen beds in the state for acute adolescent mental health.
‘They pick and choose … Once you've been once, they really don't take you again … So there was no-one to look after him.’
Melania tried to get Baxter into a private clinic instead, but staff said they were ‘not qualified’ to care for her son until he turns 18. Each time he needed care, there was ‘nothing other than police and ambulance’ to take him to the adult psych ward.
‘That's traumatic. You've got police coming into the house … but that's all I could do. Who else do I call on? There's no-one else.’
Melania said it has been ‘ridiculously hard’ to get Baxter an NDIS plan. A few months ago, he finally got a ‘small allotment’. His diagnosis of ‘ASD level 2 with psychotic features’ limits his supports.
‘[He] doesn't fit the mould because he doesn't have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or anything like that … They don't take into consideration all the hospital admissions, all the inpatient admissions.’
Melania feels her son is a ‘victim of neglect’.
‘There is nobody there to kind of recognise, you know, [his] disability.’
She gets ‘really peeved off’ that psychiatrists won’t diagnose him until he’s in his 20s.
‘It probably is schizophrenia and, like, [he] wants to just address it … If all the symptoms are there … and it does present around the age of 16, 17, and yet they still won't diagnose it.’
With the medication, his psychosis is ‘all good now’. But Baxter’s ‘gone from 105 kilos to 220 kilos’ in a couple of years, as his anxiety is ‘so high’.
Melania is hopeful that he’ll receive more NDIS supports to get him into appropriate housing. Baxter’s support worker has already made ‘a huge difference’.
‘He gets eight hours, and he goes out … a guy comes in and he goes out motorbike riding or whatever else.’
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.