Felicia
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.
Felicia is a First Nations woman in her late 30s who is autistic and lives with mental health conditions. A few years ago, she was about to take her own life.
‘I had a big meltdown and I was panicking and I went to go to [a place known for suicides]. And somebody had seen me and called the police and ambulance. The police came first and they was really good … He was helping me feel better.’
Felicia sometimes becomes non-verbal.
‘And I can't talk and I can't tell them things. The ambulance man get really angry … because I didn't want to go to the ambulance … and I couldn't tell them.’
The paramedic ‘just grabbed [her] and started dragging [her]’.
‘And I got really scared and, because it hurted me and he was a man, so I was already scared … But then the policeman told him off and the police said I don't have to go with him and I can stay with the safe police.’
After this, Felicia developed a fear of ambulances.
‘Then I was just starting to get a bit braver … and then about a year ago, the ambulance got a call … As soon as the ambulance man got out of the ambulance, he was really rude and said he remembers me from a few years ago and that I'm just being silly and it's going to take forever.’
Felicia ‘didn't want to go near the ambulance’.
‘We were sitting in the police car and I said I needed my dog, because my dog's my assistance dog and they go everywhere with me. But I was non-verbal, so I was trying to sign and trying to write it down, and the ambulance man said no.’
A support worker offered to meet Felicia at the hospital with her assistance dog, and the officer again refused.
‘And then, they just closed the doors and started going.’
Felicia’s neighbour rang the ambulance service and insisted they allow access to her dog. Eventually they agreed. She wanted to wait with the police until the dog arrived. The paramedic told her if she didn’t get out of the police car and into a wheelchair, he would ‘throw her in it’.
‘And then the ambulance man was – he keeps saying … I was just bad behaviour … He said to the police, "I would just grab her and drag her." And that scared me because that made me think about that time the ambulance man did.
The paramedic was ‘really mean and scary’, yelling at her to ‘use her words’.
Felicia made a complaint. The service said it ‘investigated … and couldn't substantiate’ it. They didn’t talk to her support worker or other witnesses, only to the officers.
‘That's only taking their side, because they should talk to everybody.’
Afterwards, Felicia said the paramedic started ‘bullying’ her on a Facebook community page and at community events. He referred to her attempt to take her life as a ‘waste of resources’ because ‘she wasn’t really going to do it’.
‘Because of what the ambulance man did, I can't – I can't go into town. I can't even go in to get a coffee … I can't go down to the park. I just can't do anything. Because he has spread so many lies about me and – and because he's ambulance, everybody just believes him.’
Felicia said she faces a lot of discrimination because of her dog. It makes her feels like she’s ‘not good enough to be part of society’.
‘Like I'm not worthy enough to be able to go out and do stuff.’
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.