Christabel
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.
‘It seems like students with disabilities and access needs are constantly an afterthought, and not valued or wanted in higher education.’
Christabel, early-20s, is autistic and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and fibromyalgia.
In the weeks prior to starting university, Christabel met the disability advisor.
She shared information about her sensory and auditory processing issues, and requested accurate captioning and content warnings on all recorded lectures.
The disability advisor assured her the university would provide all the adjustments she needed.
However, by the end of week three there were no captions or content warnings.
Soon after, classes moved online because of COVID-19, making the need for captions more urgent.
Christabel told the Royal Commission she followed-up repeatedly.
‘To understand all of the content without captioning, I would have to re-watch lectures three or more times. This put me at a large disadvantage to my peers who did not need captions.’
Two weeks before the end of semester, she finally received lectures with captions.
Christabel enrolled in a winter course.
The university reassured her captioning would be available.
Two weeks later, they informed her they wouldn’t be providing captions and suggested she drop out.
Christabel threatened to make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission, but the university suggested she make an internal complaint.
A staff member, who seemed empathetic, promised to follow-up on the issues she raised. But for a year, nothing happened.
‘I was forced to request a formal response. This formal response still did not answer a lot of my questions and honestly sounded to me more like the university was sick of dealing with me.’
After two years, the university provided captions for about 90 per cent of recorded lectures.
Still, Christabel said, additional content such as seminars about specific assessments and YouTube videos that are linked in lectures are not captioned.
‘I have had to expend enormous amounts of energy writing emails, continuously following-up, making complaints just to try and get my most basic adjustments met,’ she said.
‘This entire process has been so distressing, disheartening, and dehumanizing to me. There have been multiple points when I have considered dropping out.’
Christabel continues to be ‘extremely nervous’ about the adjustments she will need to complete her placement.
‘The university has let me down again and again, and I feel like I cannot trust them to provide the adjustments I need.’
Christabel also experiences ableism in the course materials.
One of the mandatory texts uses the phrase 'deaf and dumb' to describe a character, as well as positioning her as broken because of her disability.
‘This was never discussed critically in class and that book was required to be read by almost every student in my year, nationwide.’
Another class used the term 'differently‐abled' to refer to disabled people despite ‘many disabled people saying that this is an inappropriate term’. Again, Christabel said, this was ‘never critically examined’.
‘I hope that I can finish my degree with the supports and adjustments I need, and maybe contribute to research that will make the lives of disabled people better.’
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.