Halo and Mac
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.
Halo is in her mid-40s, has an acquired brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and experiences seizures and vertigo.
She told the Royal Commission that when the NDIS was introduced, she thought it would be about ‘getting people back out into the community’, doing things that ‘enrich your life’.
Instead, she has found the scheme’s rules and processes ‘arduous and taxing ... like pushing treacle up a hill’.
Because she lives in a rural location, waiting periods for services can be months or years. Halo says the idea of going without specialist care for so long fills her with dread.
A few years ago, Halo’s occupational therapist recommended a number of home modifications to make it safe to access. ‘If we had a fire, and if I had to go out the front, I would fall, and the back is nearly just as treacherous,’ she said. The therapist’s report went to ‘different people’, but Halo has heard nothing further.
Halo constantly feels ‘let down’, abandoned, and with a sense of having to ‘fight every step of the way’.
Halo described her experience with support workers as ‘a debacle’. One particular worker ‘was always on her phone’ and would ‘sit in her car’ while Halo was shopping. When the support worker introduced Halo to other people, she would say, ‘she's got a brain injury. You can't tell, can you?’
One day, Halo fell as she was getting out of the support worker’s car. The worker was on a phone call and had not helped Halo out of the car. As a result of the fall, Halo sustained an injury.
Halo’s husband, Mac, says he feels unable to leave his wife alone with support workers. He now stays at home when carers visit, to ensure they are taking good care of his wife.
‘That's pretty hard. It limits my life, it limits [Halo’s] life and that should not be the case.’
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.