Della
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Della has cerebral palsy. She told the Royal Commission she worries that providers are using COVID-19 as ‘an opportunity to take away choice and control from their clients’.
Prior to COVID-19, Della lived alone in her parents’ house with 24/7 support from 14 support workers. This allowed her to ‘contribute to society by being able to work’. She enjoyed her independence.
But when COVID-19 began, Della realised the number of people coming in and out of her house was no longer safe. She decided to give up her night support workers.
Around the same time her major provider said they were limiting the number of support workers because of the pandemic. Della wasn’t going into work and there were limited opportunities to go out into the community, so she negotiated ‘three days per week of supports, leaving four days without anything’.
Some months down the track, Della’s employer asked her to return to work. Before the pandemic a support worker used to transport Della to her workplace, help her into the building and set her up at her desk. To attend work, she needed the provider to increase their support.
The provider agreed to do this but told Della she would need to sit in the back of the car. This wasn’t possible because the space was too small. Instead they agreed Della would take a taxi and the support worker would follow her and set her up for work.
However, Della realised she could not socially distance from the taxi driver. He needed to strap her into the car and she ‘could not control who the driver was around’. She also couldn’t understand why a support worker could get close enough to shower her yet that same support worker couldn’t drive her into work.
‘I really felt that the provider was prioritising staff welfare over my welfare.’
But Della didn’t want to fight with the provider because her priority was getting to work.
‘I value my job. It has taken me a long time to get my job, I am happy with where I work and who I work for. I was not going to let my service provider put that at risk.’
Instead she used an online service provider.
But after a few weeks it became difficult to find suitable staff and Della had to go back to her regular provider, who eventually increased support to cover her work hours.
Then Della received an email from the provider claiming ‘that they would like to improve services’ by changing her hours.
Della said the new hours ‘did not consider my lifestyle’. In her opinion the provider changed her hours and supports to suit itself with little regard to her.
Della is concerned providers ‘are more interested in protecting the parts of the business that bring them in more money instead of providing individual client centred care’.
Della says she was one of the lucky ones who continued to receive some care during the crisis. She believes this is only because she spoke up and had family to support her.
‘[The providers have been] able to dictate my quality of life, which would have been very poor if I didn’t speak up and assert my right to services that should always be essential.’
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.