Cayson and Safara
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.
Cayson, early 20s, has Asperger’s syndrome and lives with depression.
‘He lacks social skills and has difficulty controlling his neurological impulses,’ his mum Safara told the Royal Commission. ‘He’s almost like an overachiever, he likes to pressure himself to perform.’
Cayson attended a private school where he was bullied ‘psychologically and emotionally’.
Teachers told Safara, ‘He’s a very good student except when it comes to exams.’ During exams he had meltdowns.
Students made fun of him. ‘He felt ridiculed,’ Safara said.
The school didn’t do anything about the bullying and didn’t offer him any adjustments.
In Cayson’s final year, one student repeatedly made fun of him. Cayson retaliated and sent the student an email – ‘Stay away from me. Leave me alone or else I’m going to kill you.’
The student made a complaint and the school immediately reported Cayson to police. The senior head told him he couldn’t go to school while the police investigated.
Cayson was distraught. ‘They make me suffer and now they’re piling it all on me,’ he told Safara.
Cayson had a breakdown and was ‘rushed to hospital because he got suicidal’. He remained in hospital for three weeks.
‘It’s so much stress during all the time. We got a lawyer because we thought they’d go on and charge him.’
However, police considered it a mental health issue.
Safara begged the school not to expel Cayson and to investigate the bullying.
‘They didn’t want to do anything. And all the time they were thinking of expelling him.’
The other boy ‘didn’t want [Cayson] there’ and his family pushed the school to expel him.
The hospital spoke to the school, telling them Cayson was very vulnerable and his mental health was fragile. They reminded the school he had Asperger’s syndrome and argued he’d only acted because he’d been provoked.
After much deliberation, the school decided not to expel Cayson.
However, they would only allow him to come to school to attend his core subjects. This meant he often had to leave the school for long periods and have to return later in the day. The school made Cayson quit all extra curricula activities.
Safara asked the education board for ‘a fair hearing’, but they refused.
She then made a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission, but the school refused to cooperate.
Safara said Cayson is ‘still traumatised by the experience’ and continues to take medication and receive counselling.
‘He still says he doesn’t really like to socialise anymore, and he’s too apprehensive to make friends.’
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.