Genevieve
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.
Genevieve has multiple sclerosis (MS) and lupus. When she fell behind on her rent a year or so ago, she was evicted from her home.
‘[The police] broke the door down and I was laying half naked on the floor having mini‐seizures,’ Genevieve told the Royal Commission.
When the seizures ended, Genevieve made her way to the toilet, which ‘takes a while due to MS’.
‘Thereafter I was getting dressed and was dragged out of the bathroom to put my underwear on in front of male police officers where they dressed me … I was humiliated, by my disease and by everyone.’
Genevieve said that when this was happening she was ‘heightened’ by her ‘previous complex [post-traumatic stress disorder] PTSD which is triggered by the police’.
The police took her to hospital where she was involuntarily scheduled to a mental health unit for 28 days, something that Genevieve said could have been avoided if the police had a better understanding of her disabilities.
‘MS is an invisible illness and one doesn’t look sick, it is an immense illness … There should be a police education program … I shouldn’t have been displaced from my home at all.’
During her 28 days in hospital, Genevieve arranged to have her belongings stored in a shipping container. When she was released from hospital, she found that the real estate agent who managed her former home had thrown some of her belongings away.
‘All my items are determined abandoned goods and the real estate threw my valuable books and items from the house in a skip and deliberately took it away. I cannot replace my belongings.’
Genevieve is now homeless.
‘The police gave me a t-shirt and didn't offer accommodation, they expected me to live in the car.’
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.