Bryce
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.
‘I think that it’s pretty easy for service providers to neglect and abuse people with disabilities, if there isn’t a solid complaint process.’
Bryce is a First Nations man in his 50s who lives with early onset dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.
Bryce lives in social housing in New South Wales. He receives NDIS funding, but feels isolated in his community because there is ‘not much in the way of personal support’.
‘Sometimes I just get a bit lonely … because I live on my own and – I, sort of, feel very limited about what I can do and where I can go,’ he told the Royal Commission.
Bryce says he sees a support worker three times a week, but that ‘leaves a few gaps’.
‘Maybe I would benefit from living with somebody else or having more care.’
Bryce found the process of applying for NDIS support ‘tricky to navigate’.
‘It was very confusing, like to find somebody to help me, then to try and understand … this big cake that was cut up into pieces, and they say this much is for your core support and this much is for this and that.’
Bryce had no Local Area Coordinator and struggled on his own to find an honest service provider.
‘It’s like a lucky dip, you know. When you’re looking for somebody you don’t know if they’re going to be honest or reliable … So, you just have to, you know, try it out. But then if it goes wrong it’s difficult to end it and find somebody else.’
His first disability service provider was ‘run by a family’ and unreliable.
Support workers ‘wouldn’t turn up’ or would ask him to travel long distances to receive services.
The provider also overcharged him for cleaning and other services.
One day, Bryce was in his support worker’s car. The support worker started to ‘mock’ the way another person spoke ‘because of her disability.'
Bryce complained to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, which ‘didn’t do much’.
When the manager learnt of the complaint he was angry and ‘kept harassing’ Bryce to drop it.
The provider then left him ‘stranded’ without care, and Bryce went without proper food for weeks.
He informed the provider he no longer wanted their services. The company took no notice and continued to charge him for services he did not receive.
‘I kept telling them that … I didn’t want to be with them anymore – and they kept ignoring my requests and so I felt a bit stuck.’
The manager told Bryce he had ‘shredded’ all the paperwork. He then produced fraudulent documents, including a service agreement for Bryce with a forged signature. As a result his funding was exhausted months before it should have been.
The NDIS fraud division investigated the case. ‘They said it was resolved,’ Bryce said.
A friend helped him find a new provider. ‘I was scared. I was saying, what if they end up being, you know, no good.’ So far, he has found ‘they run the show pretty well’.
Bryce said the whole experience had left him ‘a little bit more vulnerable’.
‘But, I think, if anything good came out of it, I’ve learnt more about my rights, because – it’s like one of those terrible things … You’re not aware of it until it happens.’
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.