Bridie
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.
Bridie became a disability support worker 20 years ago.
‘I just loved it,’ Bridie told the Royal Commission. ‘It felt like family … It wasn’t so much the staff, it was working with the clients. Yeah, I couldn’t really care less about the staff, to tell you the truth.’
A decade ago Bridie was working for a government disability service when she developed epilepsy.
‘Having epilepsy [I] saw the other side … You have slurred speech, you can’t remember things, and so people look at you like you’re drunk or you’re a bit of an idiot and, yeah, you develop a hell of a lot of empathy.’
Bridie lost her drivers licence, which restricted where she could work. She decided to enrol in a diploma in disability.
‘I also left because at the time there was a staff person who was stealing in the house that I was working at and I put them in … I felt that it should have been an instant dismissal, but they moved them to a house where the clients were more vulnerable … It just broke my heart.’
Bridie said it took several years to get her epilepsy ‘under control’.
When she returned to office-based work in a group home a few years ago, she discovered the service provider was no longer regularly reviewing client management plans. The clients’ changing needs weren’t being met.
‘Every 12 months we’d do like an annual plan … We don’t do that anymore.’
One day, Bridie saw a support worker in an understaffed group home push a client and tell him to ‘fuck off’. Bridie came out of her office to ‘quieten the client down’ while the support worker went outside to smoke.
‘Then [the client] attacked me and my only escape route was back out to the office.’
She found the door locked and the client bit her. She calmed the client down, but when she was cleaning up she noticed her ‘glove filled up with blood’. It was a couple of hours before she saw a doctor.
Bridie said when she reported the incident to management, they tried to link it to her epilepsy.
‘My epilepsy has been the blame of everything since.’
Bridie developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and took some time off work.
But management told Bridie she was ‘having too much time off’.
When she returned to work for a few weeks, a manager ‘raked [her] over the coals’ and offered her a demotion.
‘I can’t go back there. No. It’s not a nice place. It’s really not.’
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.