Francoise
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.
Francoise is a transgender woman in her 30s. She has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia.
Francoise told the Royal Commission she was ridiculed and bullied at primary school.
‘Because of my disability, I struggled with some things. Not only was I not getting the help that I needed, which caused me to be disruptive, the teacher put me inside a cardboard box, basically, so that I couldn't even see the blackboard … And this box was pretty much around my whole desk and it made me the centre point of ridicule. Not only from the students but from the teacher herself. Which totally shattered my self-esteem as a young kid.’
Francoise faced more abuse at the next school.
‘The principal at the time took me into the staffroom and told me to pull my pants down, um, coz he had – he was going to whack me on the arse with a cane. Looking back on it now, I guess … it was quite a perverted thing that he did.’
Around this time, Francoise said her stepbrother raped her ‘at knifepoint’.
‘I was always scared of him. And he was left alone with me and that's what he did. And it was more than one occasion.’
A couple of years later, after reporting the abuse to her mother, police interviewed the boy.
‘He was lying about it for a while, and then, um, eventually told – told the truth and they let him go,’ Francoise said.
Growing up, Francoise was dealing with the sexual abuse and ‘transgender issues’.
‘Like I didn't want to come out when I was a teenager because I was already getting bullied by other kids at school. I went off the rails as soon as I hit high school.’
Francoise feels that the lack of justice over the rape led to her ‘addiction to child exploitation material’ and current incarceration in a correctional centre.
‘In a sense it actually told me that it's okay to abuse people. That was the message. Being told, nah, it's all fine. It's all good to get raped up the arse.’
She recently came out as transgender, but says she ‘isn’t receiving much counselling’ in prison.
‘I've also been diagnosed with autism. I'm barely even seeing my psychiatrist at the moment to check up on the medication.’
For a few years, Francoise has been ‘trying to move forward in life’ and start her own business.
‘I'm on a disability pension on the outside, and I just can't get anywhere with that … I get social anxiety, um, like I can't even hold a job because I’m too anxious about working. I just lose myself in my own self sometimes and I – I just – and I fail. And then I end up in here.’
All the harm, she said, ‘sprung mainly from that one incident’.
‘Like I wanted to be an astronaut, I wanted to be one of the first people on Mars when I was a kid. And now look, I'm in this fucking hell hole.’
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.