Brocket and Delvine
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.
Brocket was diagnosed with a degenerative disease when he was a boy. He died in his mid-20s. His mum, Delvine, believes his disability service provider was responsible for his death.
‘We don’t know if [Brocket] could have been saved or not,’ she told the Royal Commission. But we think that if somebody had turned up, he may have still been here with us.’
Brocket loved fishing, camping and going on trips with his dad. He was very bright, his mother said.
He went to school in his electric wheelchair and participated as much as he could. Despite frequent hospitalisation, he did very well.
After completing school, Brocket wanted to live independently, like other young men his age.
An organisation building new homes for people with disability agreed to build him a fully accessible home.
It took a few years and Brockett finally moved in when he was in his early 20s.
A disability service provider supplied support workers.
In the morning, staff got Brocket out of bed, showered him and gave him breakfast. They took him shopping and to do other activities. In the afternoon, another support worker arrived to get him dinner, shower him and put him to bed.
Brocket liked to have his personal care ‘done his way’ so he felt comfortable.
He became frustrated with the high turnover of support workers.
‘A lot of carers didn’t see his point of view,’ Delvine said, and he was forever ‘training’ new people.
Brocket made a complaint to the provider but nothing changed.
Brocket decided to switch a new company, hoping a smaller provider would be able to supply a stable group of support staff.
About a year later, Brocket started to have fits.
‘He would get thrown around in his wheelchair a lot,’ Delvine said. Support workers needed to be attentive.
One afternoon, the evening support worker didn’t turn up for their shift. No-one organised a replacement.
The next morning, the day support worker found Brocket dead in his wheelchair.
‘He had smashed his head on the corner of a cabinet and had bled out,’ Delvine said.
‘We blamed [the service provider] for this not having [a] policy in place, for not getting anybody to do the shift of the person that never turned up.’
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.