Jeremy
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.
‘[It was] not my home, [it was] their workplace.’
Jeremy questions the work culture at the specialist disability accommodation (SDA) group home where he lived until recently. He believes the rules of the house took precedence over his own needs and health, and that he suffered as a result.
Jeremy has severe ataxic cerebral palsy. He uses a wheelchair and has control only of his facial muscles.
Jeremy told the Royal Commission that the accommodation provider used OHS rules to force him to change his wheelchair. They claimed ‘it was too high for support workers to reach over’, but this had never been an issue with any other provider.
The new wheelchair was very uncomfortable and the backrest was too low to hold Jeremy’s head properly. Staff moved his old wheelchair into a shed so he could not ask to be transferred back to it.
When Jeremy asked about the reason for equipment changes, he was told there had been OHS incident reports. No-one ever showed these to him, or asked for his side of the story. They always blamed Jeremy’s equipment for ‘incidents’ and then replaced it with less comfortable gear.
Jeremy said there was a culture of bullying at the group home, sometimes directed at workers who tried to help Jeremy with his equipment problems, and sometimes at Jeremy himself. ‘I’ve been called horrible names and experienced inappropriate sexual comments from support workers.’
He made complaints about specific support workers to the provider, with little result.
Suddenly, with no notice, the provider evicted Jeremy from the house.
It happened one day after management had sent him to hospital for an X-ray, to check if he’d inhaled food into his air passages during a meal.
‘It was the 3rd or 4th time I had been taken to hospital to check, and none of the times showed any aspiration had occurred,’ Jeremy said.
Despite this, the provider refused to let Jeremy return to the house on the grounds that his ‘risk of aspiration had increased’.
‘It was only the amount of checks that had increased due to staff uncertainty – high turnover did not help.’
Jeremy believes management evicted him in retribution for the complaints he had made.
With nowhere to go, he remained in hospital for five months while arranging a new SDA.
Jeremy is much happier in his new accommodation, which he shares with a good friend.
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.