Cally
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.
‘The amount of people with disabilities that I encounter in the public service has diminished over time. So people with vision impairment that I know have moved on because it’s just become too challenging.’
Cally is in her 40s, has vision impairment and is colourblind.
‘I quite often come across as looking non-disabled. So, you know, I'll wear sunglasses during the day and I just get out there in the world and do my thing,’ Cally told the Royal Commission.
Cally went to a high school special education unit where teachers told her she couldn’t study science because there were no staff to supervise her.
‘I could not do art because I am colourblind. I couldn’t do geography because it would be too difficult for me to read the maps … I felt like I had this constant rhetoric around, “You can't do that because of your vision.” It creates a huge amount of doubt in my mind.’
This made Cally’s transition to the workforce difficult.
‘This has set us up to think we can't do as much as everyone else … Especially when explaining to an employer that I can do the job of my able-bodied competitor in an open market situation.’
In spite of her restricted education, Cally went to university and joined the public service where she ‘experienced a fair amount of backwatering, bullying and harassment’.
‘People do not understand disability at all. There is an unwillingness to understand my needs and have them accommodated.’
For example, Cally is sensitive to light. One building was so brightly-lit she struggled to read and move safely about, so her manager gave her an office where she could close the blinds.
‘But then people would walk past and just say to me, “Why are you in an office?” and … it’s basically if you get treated differently to somebody else then that favourable treatment … doesn’t go down well with some of the other people.’
Another manager told Cally she didn't want her in that office and moved her ‘back out on the floor’.
‘That affected my work performance significantly.’
Managers also declined to pay for software to help Cally better read her computer screen. Cally said there is a double standard in the public service where some departments ignore the policies of inclusion they promote.
‘When they talk about access and inclusion they don’t talk about it in the sense of disability. They talk about it in the sense of, “We’re going to give … access for all," meaning everyone who works there,’ Cally told the Royal Commission.
‘It’s not in the context of disability. It’s like you don’t exist … so it’s this shifting of disability issues [and] making them kind of, I guess, more about the people without disabilities, just about everybody. So you're ignored essentially.’
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.