Jan
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.
Jan spent most of his life being abused and bullied because ‘he thought so different to other people’.
He told the Royal Commission it wasn’t until he was almost 40 and diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) he understood his ‘ADHD brain’ worked differently.
Jan was one of five children. He told us he grew up in an abusive environment with a father who despised him and a mother who ‘was a compulsive liar’.
At school the abuse and bullying continued.
‘One teacher hit my backside in punishment and another would lock me in the classroom during lunch time because of my behaviour and not completing my school work.’
Jan said this happened in year 1 and ‘went on for months’.
High school was much worse. The only difference was in addition to the ‘teachers ganging up’ on him, certain students would also bully him.
Jan felt the teachers approved and no-one intervened. ‘Because you were disliked anyway … they would turn a blind eye.’
He couldn’t talk to his parents and his mother blamed him for what was happening at school.
With no-one to turn to, Jan dropped out of school ‘after failing … for a second time in year 11’.
Life didn’t improve when Jan started work. He went from job to job, was bullied and ‘spoken to in ways that grew my depression and anxiety’.
‘I drank right through my 20s to escape the world of being disliked, bullied and the constant loss of jobs.’
Jan told us his relationships with friends and girlfriends also suffered.
He was aware he thought differently but felt he was smart and couldn’t work out why he ‘couldn’t stay in relationships or jobs’.
Then last year his partner overheard a conversation at work about a person with similar traits to Jan. He ‘read up on this condition called ADHD’ and felt it explained ‘why I was the way I was’.
Jan booked an appointment with a specialist and was diagnosed with ADHD. He started taking Ritalin.
‘From that moment I thought my life would change and it did.’
But not in the positive way Jan expected.
‘I went from the prison that my ADHD brain had created for me to the ADHD community where you are told that you are not worthy of treatments by professional doctors, not covered by the NDIS, which means no access to the disability job employment agency which means no support in the workforce.’
Jan wants ADHD to be recognised as a disability and for people with ADHD to be eligible for NDIS support.
‘This is a disability … that needs a strong voice and I will be that voice until we are heard and change is made in Australia.’
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.