Kaya
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.
‘I still think that a lot of the stuff around disability inclusion is very surface level and very tokenistic and very much it turns us off. Because you’re pretending that you’re inclusive, but there's not really action, the culture is not inclusive. That’s the problem.’
Kaya was diagnosed with autism several years ago. Now in her early 30s, she also lives with a disabling physical condition and the consequences of a car accident in her early 20s.
Kaya works in the public service, a workplace she believed would accommodate her needs better than the private sector. ‘I know that I have capacity if only given flexibility and chance,’ she said.
But Kaya has found that efforts of her workplace to build understanding about disability are ‘primarily focused on very visible disabilities, not hidden’. She says autistic people are ‘very much forgotten’.
‘What I’m hearing about the recruitment programs for autistic people is that most of them within a year have quit because the focus was getting them in and getting them set up and nothing beyond that,’ she said. ‘It's not [about] getting us into the workforce, it's actually setting our environment up and giving us meaningful work while accommodating our needs, because people don't even understand our needs.’
Recently at Kaya’s workplace, someone who wasn’t autistic gave a presentation about autism awareness. Kaya says that it may be helpful to provide an understanding of the ‘general characteristics of autistic people’ but ‘preconceptions’ being formed ‘by people who are trying to teach workplaces how to support autistic staff’ are a ‘big problem’.
‘We’re all different and you need to ask every individual autistic person what their needs are and how they show up. Because those preconceptions are just more social expectations that are being put on us that we already have to deal with in a society that fundamentally doesn’t accept our natural behaviour.’
Kaya is now an advocate for people who are neurodiverse. She has been sharing her experience of autism ‘in the hope that it would help other autistic women especially to receive better care and have a better quality of life’.
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.