Bronte
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.
‘Where I live is basically a funeral yard to me. You get put there and you stay there till you die, that's it. And there's no support.’
Bronte, mid-50s, was involved in a car accident when she was in her late teens and acquired a brain injury.
Soon after, she formed a relationship with a violent man who had substance abuse issues. He regularly assaulted her and threatened her children.
Bronte told the Royal Commission that her partner would kick her and tell police, ‘I didn’t lay a hand on you.’ One time he threatened her with a knife and when her daughter went next door to get help, he ran after her telling the neighbours he was ‘going to kill them’.
‘So the girls and I were … living in a very serious, dangerous position.’
When Bronte received compensation, 10 years after the accident, her husband took the money and ‘took off’.
‘So we ended up living in a garage beside our house, someone's garage.’
After some time, Bronte was able to access public housing.
The house is now ‘filthy’ and has ‘dust and holes and cockroaches’. Bronte believes the house has made her sick and she’s often in pain.
Bronte finds it difficult to make a complaint and advocate for herself. ‘[My paperwork] does look like a child did it. I can’t spell.’
If someone does come to fix something in the house, the agency charges her even if they haven’t fixed the problem.
‘I asked them to fix a toilet seat. They can't even do that. It falls off again and it's been a week.’
A couple of years ago Bronte went to hospital to have a tooth extracted. When the doctor came in to perform the extraction, he did not have her X-ray. As a result, the doctor removed five teeth instead of one. Since then, Dianne has been taking nine Panadeine Forte a day and is still on the waitlist for implants.
Bronte is very concerned about her daughter. She believes her daughter’s mental health has ‘been affected’ growing up in a violent household. ‘She needs to get help. She can't get the help. She has breakdowns and she can't even go to a shopping centre without screaming.’
Bronte’s daughter recently moved out of the house because it was making her sick. She would lay in bed and ‘feel the dust over [her] mouth and eyes’.
Bronte believes her life and her daughter’s life would be better if she’d had ‘somebody … who can help … somebody for brain injury people or disability’.
Instead, she feels people take advantage of her because of her brain injury.
‘They manipulated me, they were telling me things that I believe was wrong … I had a brain injury. Lost my house. Lost the brain injury money I had … Any money I had he took.’
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.