Herbert
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.
Herbert has a degenerative disease and early dementia. He has been living in a group home, funded by the NDIS, and is very unhappy with the treatment he’s received there.
‘It was appalling. Nothing to do, sometimes not much food and forced to take Prozac,’ he said.
‘Too much governmental money has allowed these group homes to flourish and trap disabled people behind closed doors with no access to the outside world.’
He was also placed under the guardianship of the public trustee, which has ‘made matters worse’.
Under the guardianship he has been denied access to his own money and refused permission to participate in a medical trial or to leave the home to collect his belongings in another city. Each week his partner had to fill in an application form before she visited him in the home.
Herbert had been a professional working at a high level, and the change in his circumstances has been difficult.
‘It is very difficult to escape from the controlling guardians or trustees and I hate the way my life has been taken over and the NDIS coordinator did nothing to assist me when I was locked up in a coercive group home, not allowed to work or even leave the front door,’ he said.
‘To be forced into such a lifestyle is galling and the guardians seem to make up their own rules as they go along.’
Herbert said his GP, his partner and his friends ‘can’t believe’ he has been ‘stripped’ of his assets and rights by the public trustee.
‘When I tell various people they are shocked at what I have endured. When I complain to NDIS, the department of health, or my member of parliament they just refer me to another organisation. When my partner complained to the guardian about the abusive group home, she was told to complain to the group home. So where does the buck stop?’
With financial support from his partner, Herbert has been able to leave the group home and find accommodation elsewhere. He is now seeking to end the public trustee’s guardianship.
‘I have been trying to get away … but it seems almost impossible.’
Herbert wants to see much more accountability in the system, especially in relation to guardianship and the public trustee who ‘profits from the plight of disabled people who cannot make their plight public’.
‘The NDIS needs a huge overhaul to stop dodgy providers getting control of the funds … Also the public trustee and guardians need to be fully accountable and it should not be so difficult to escape their tentacles,’ he said.
‘Never have disabled people had less rights due to government control.’
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.