Davey and Billie
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 know people make petty comments and petty complaints. But this is about our sons or our daughters who are non-verbal. They're not petty, you know, we just want them to be treated with respect.’
Billie is the single mother of several children with disability. Her son, Davey, is in his 30s, autistic and non-verbal.
‘I got cancer … and after all the treatment I put [Davey] into care,’ Billie told the Royal Commission.
Davey needs a lot of support and it took Billie some time to find a service provider that that could care for him.
‘[Davey] gets overly anxious and he will bite or hit or headbutt and some of the staff wouldn't listen to the triggers that would trigger him and basically said they couldn't handle him.’
Davey eventually moved into a supported independent living (SIL) home with several other men. Billie said the home initially was poorly managed and many of Davey’s possessions vanished.
‘We'd lost probably, it would be over half-a-dozen iPods and headsets over the years, because staff would take them off him and you'd never find them again. And management would go, “Oh yeah we're looking into it.” You never heard anything.’
It was only when a new house manager started several years ago that staff ‘started to treat the boys as human beings and as adults’.
Under the new manager, a small group of dedicated long-term support workers also made sure the home looked like a home and not ‘a sterile box with a couple of little wooden chairs’.
‘They put pictures up on the wall and all that stuff, which really for the first time … it was kind of a bit more homely than what it had previously been.’
The regular staff ‘could read [Davey's] moods to defuse any behaviours that might start’ and got to know what the residents liked to eat.
A couple of years ago, the house manager left and the service provider decided to move the group home’s long-time staff to another home.
‘They were switching houses and they were bringing in other people that didn't have a clue about the behaviours of the boys and wouldn't listen to the staff who knew the boys.’
The new staff also changed the menu.
‘The regular house staff previously, for the last four years, had devised a way to get vegetables and healthy foods into the boys … And [Davey] really ate really well at that time.’
Davey refused to eat the new food and one day staff found him unresponsive in bed. They called an ambulance, but later told Billie he was only ‘a little sick’.
‘[Davey] was in a bad way when he was brought to the hospital in an ambulance.’
Billie employed a dietician, who found the service provider’s food wasn’t appropriate or nutritious.
‘After we got the report from the dietician … within 24 hours I got a, “[Davey] is to move out.”’
The service provider evicted Davey. Because he needs 24/7 care, Billie struggled to find another SIL provider that could accommodate him.
‘We ended up in the motel for eight weeks.’
Billie ended up employing Davey’s long-time support workers, who quit the service provider to work unpaid helping Davey transition to a new SIL. The workers later started their own small service provider and still work with Davey.
‘They are probably the most gentlest, caring people … They're in my top three people who have dealt with disabled people over time … They accommodate and treat him as a human being for a start and as an adult and I can't speak highly enough for these guys.’
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.