Francine
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 felt like something was wrong with me, I was lesser than, broken and in need of being “fixed”.’
Francine went to a private religious school for years 11 and 12 in the 1980s. She told the Royal Commission she made this choice because she believed it would give her ‘the best opportunity possible to receive a good tertiary entrance score’.
Francine’s physical disability meant that she used a wheelchair most of the time. However as the school wasn’t fully accessible, she took her crutches to access the upstairs classrooms.
Francine said that ‘well-meaning teachers’ chose to focus on developing her physical capacity − which they had no qualifications in − at the expense of her education.
‘Seeing my wheelchair as negative, teaching staff … would encourage me to walk around the large school campus with my Canadian crutches instead of using my wheelchair.’
Keen to ‘fit into the school community’, Francine complied. ‘This resulted in me being … late for every class and then having to pack up my things ten minutes before class finished so I could start the difficult journey to my next class,’ she told us.
Francine became exhausted with the additional mental concentration and physical demands she had to put her body through every day to please the teachers and not be thought ‘lazy’.
It also dramatically affected her ability to move with speed between classes. She was often late and by the end of the day felt exhausted, ‘unable to focus on homework, assignments and study’.
‘As a child I thought my lack of academic performance … was my fault because I wasn't smart enough or because I was lazy – teachers thought this too even though they were the ones enforcing this intense physical regime.’
Meanwhile, without the consent of her parents, the school took it upon itself to ‘pray for [Francine’s] healing’. Teachers would make her walk with her crutches around the large school campus. ‘They wanted to see the “work of God” through me,’ Francine said.
‘Praying for me involved teachers, school staff and students putting their hands on my body and pushing me backwards onto the floor. One teacher in particular reinforced my developing negative self-worth by telling me that I wasn't healed because I didn't have enough “faith in God”.’
Francine looks back on her time at that school as emotionally detrimental.
‘Due to their preconceptions of disability and lack of any cultural awareness of disability, they chose to focus on my disability as a negative thing that needs to be healed.’
Francine would like changes made to the Australian education system to ensure the rights of the child are central and ‘kids with disability [can] grow up to feel proud of who they are as people with disability, not ashamed’.
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.