Dea

‘COVID made us deafblind people so depressed. It wasn't fair. [Other communities] can go buy things, they can go places, they can go see people if they need to. And we deafblind people were just left in our houses.’  

Dea is in her 60s and deafblind.

‘I didn't learn to sign at school, [not] until after I left high school,’ Dea told the Royal Commission with the help of an interpreter. ‘[I’m] the only person in my family who's deafblind.’

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Dea was in another city and didn’t understand what was happening.

‘Things were being cancelled left right and centre which was really unfortunate. And I really didn't know or understand what was going on during that time.’

Dea can’t see or hear the television without help, for example.

‘I can't read the online, but I just saw that there was things happening, but I didn't actually understand what was happening because I couldn't read it properly.’

She said before COVID she ‘used to be able to go everywhere’.

‘It was wonderful. I had plenty of support workers, I had places to go, I had things to do and, wow, what an impact.’

When she got home at the start of the pandemic, her service provider told her it had cancelled many of her services.

‘And that made me quite depressed. It made me a little bit on the back foot not knowing what was going on. For example, people wouldn't come and take me out.’

Dea said she feels forgotten because she’s deafblind.

‘I felt like I'd lost my family, I lost my friends, I felt like I lost everything … I tried to be positive, I'm trying to be strong, I'm trying to think positive and I'm trying to not be depressed, but I was stuck at home.’

‘I feel there's so many barriers now.’

Dea still struggles to get an interpreter. For example, she booked an interpreter two months before an important medical appointment, only to have the appointment cancelled at the last minute. When she booked another appointment, the interpreter cancelled the day before.

‘There's nobody available because of being such short notice because the appointments keep getting changed.’

Dea said the same thing happened with a dental appointment.

‘It's happening all the time, on and off, on and off, on and off. And sometimes I'm lucky and sometimes I'm not lucky.’

The lack of interpreters and reliable support workers means Dea is often stuck at home and endlessly re-arranging appointments.

‘I need to go shopping, I need to do things, I need to go and they have limited hours, that's not enough hours. So I try to move to different agencies, different support workers … sometimes there's nobody available.’

Dea said when a worker does turn up, she’s made to feel grateful.

‘You're forced to work with somebody that you don't feel comfortable working with and … I'm forced to say yes, yes, yes I'm happy thank you very much for helping … because if I say no, that I'm not happy, then I know that my supports will be withdrawn.’

Dea said she’s often given inexperienced and rude support workers who leave her alone in shops and then call her ‘bossy’ and ‘demanding’.

‘But really I'm blind, I can't see where they've gone to, they need to tell me where they're going. I booked you, you should be with me and then it's not fair if you wander off.’