Huey
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.
Huey is in his 50s and uses a wheelchair.
‘I can’t get out of my chair. I’ve got problems with my spine because I’ve had brain damage,’ Huey told the Royal Commission.
Until a few years ago he lived in public housing.
Huey said that one night a support worker sexually assaulted him. When he reported the assault to police, they told him there wasn’t enough evidence to take it to court.
‘Just because I’ve got a disability doesn’t mean I can’t tell when someone’s touched me down below, right? That’s not fair to me … so he’s allowed to do it again, you know what I mean, to someone else.’
Huey said his support workers also neglected him.
‘Sometimes they leave me in there for six hours with dirty pullups before they change you. I’ve gone to hospital appointments with dirty pullups.’
One day he became sick and had to go to hospital. Huey can’t read or write, but while he was in hospital someone gave him some documents to sign.
‘They got me to sign paperwork. They did not read it to me and I didn’t know what I was signing for, right?’
After being released from hospital he discovered he couldn’t return to his house and the public guardian had taken over his affairs.
‘The government … stepped in and took over and said, “Well he can’t look after himself.” And that’s why I lost my house and all.’
Huey now lives in a group home and his affairs are the subject of an administration order.
‘All I get is about $40 a week. It's not much money. And I found myself a part-time job … and trustees want to take that off from me – little tiny bit of pocket money I’m earning – just want to take it off me.’
Huey said he’s tried to get the order revoked because he wants to move out of the home.
‘But they say no, I need more care, I can’t live on my own. That’s all they say, I can’t live in a home, they want me to be in one of their homes.’
Huey said he feels trapped in the house and can’t make decisions about his own life. The support workers treat the home as if it’s theirs. They once refused to let his friend visit him.
‘She will not come back to that place because of what they’re doing to me … They listen into my phone calls, they even listen to when I’m talking to someone out the back of my yard or in my house. They don't give me no privacy, nothing.’
When one support worker endangered his life, she bragged that she wouldn’t be fired.
‘She said, “I won’t get kicked out of here, I won’t, no, nothing will happen to me.” She was all high and mighty about it.’
Huey said staff threaten to report him to the police if he goes over their heads to complain and tell him to ‘shut [his] mouth’ when he asks about his finances.
‘I want to get out of this place quick as I can because I can’t stay there too much longer, I can’t put up with it … I get sick over what they do to me.’
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.