June and Charlie
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.
June is profoundly deaf, has low vision and has significant physical disabilities. She has a son, Charlie, who is in his twenties. Charlie was born with physical disabilities and is autistic.
June told the Royal Commission she encounters abuse in the community on a regular basis. This abuse can range from name-calling and refusal of service to actual physical violence.
‘Due to being deaf and having a limited range of vision, I am unaware of people who are behind me or coming from the side. I have had experiences where I have been rammed by shopping trolleys, had people take control of my wheelchair and slam [it] into a wall to get me out of their way; and been regularly physically assaulted by people slapping, punching, spitting and hitting me with objects; whilst verbally abusing me.’
June recalled an incident in a queue at the post office. ‘A man leaned over the back of my chair in order to be served first … he placed his hand inside my blouse and bra and fondled my breast. Not knowing what to do, I fled.’
While June was outside in tears, a witness flagged down passing police. June gave the police a statement of what happened, and the witness gave a description of the man. Police tracked him down quickly.
When the police spoke to the man, he denied what he had done. He said he wanted to charge June with assault because, he claimed, she had run over his toes with her wheelchair. The police took June home and spoke with her husband. They didn’t have an interpreter and didn’t speak to June – only to her husband. ‘They told him’, June said, ‘that he needed to teach me better how to behave in public and learn to control my wheelchair in future’.
Charlie also experienced abuse and neglect in the mainstream school he attended.
June recounted that when Charlie was six a teacher put him in a wheelie bin with the lid closed because he was annoyed by Charlie’s repetitive verbal behaviours. The teacher sat on the bin for half an hour. Charlie passed out. He was then suspended for a month for inappropriate behaviour towards a teacher. Two days later, Charlie attempted suicide – the first of many attempts.
June told us that during Charlie’s schooling, teachers routinely excluded and isolated him. He was banned from all school camps, excursions and out-of-school activities. He was banned from taking a number of subjects. He was banned from the playground and was made to sit outside the staffroom during all breaks for all 12 years of his schooling.
For five years of his schooling Charlie was on a restricted enrolment, which meant he could attend school as little as three hours a week. June said she believes that this was because schools were unwilling to fund the support Charlie required, even though they collected enrolment and specialised funding for him as a full-time student.
June said that the abuse and neglect she and her son have experienced is ‘minor’ compared with the abuse others have suffered.
‘It is my hope that this Commission will finally give a voice to people with disabilities, so that we may receive better treatment in our own homes, the community, places of employment and educational settings.’
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.