Jacky
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‘I took the gamble in telling them my diagnosis, because I hoped that they would have some sort of terms to work with me. But unfortunately the gamble didn’t pay off.’
Jacky is in her 50s and lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), functional neurological disorder, fibromyalgia and anorexia.
‘I give off the impression I have confidence, but behind it I’m going mad,’ Jacky told the Royal Commission. ‘I never thought I would get beaten down.’
Jacky ran a business for many years before joining a government department. She struggled to concentrate in an office with lots of people. ‘It was then it started coming to light,’ Jacky said.
When a psychiatrist diagnosed Jacky with ADHD and PTSD, she told her colleagues.
‘I made a conscious decision to let them know … You look around and they are, like, literally averting their gaze.’
Jacky asked her managers for reasonable adjustments.
‘My psychiatrist recommended … flexibility in the workplace with the ability to work from home, which was tried and tested through COVID. It had worked very well. And to bring my dog into work.’
Jacky managers rejected the psychiatrist’s recommendations, including the dog.
‘You wouldn’t say to someone who had a white stick and a guide dog, “How blind are you, really?” You know, wheelchairs, “Keep it outside, it’s distracting.” And yet they felt that they could … They [also] told me about things like the psychiatric report wasn’t valid.’
Her managers then restricted her work. Jacky felt she was being bullied and her mental health deteriorated.
‘To be told … “You’re not able to do that”, I mean, it’s just all very, very belittling and it’s humiliating.’
After a meeting, her managers told her to leave until she could prove that she was ‘100 per cent fit’.
‘Not, you know, able to work, but 100 per cent better. So long as I had to be fixed completely. And that was it. And that was the last time I heard from them.’
Jacky said she’s since received little support.
‘This was a career I absolutely adored, and unfortunately it’s brought back old eating disorders which have now put me in hospital and are now affecting my life with the impact it has had on my body, and so it’s gone completely.’
Jacky is still technically employed by the department, but feels ‘bitterly disappointed’.
‘It’s their big message at the moment. Their strategic plan is mental health in the workplace … They talk about it, but it’s as if they don’t walk the walk … I’ve just been shattered by the attitudes of people and their lack of understanding.’
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.