Kody and Mack
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.
‘No-one has helped us, no-one has done anything. It's just constant nothingness. And then every time I call the NDIS no-one can answer any questions.’
Kody is autistic and has global developmental delay. He lives in Queensland with his father, Mack, and attends primary school.
‘He's a great little kid, it's just he's pretty taxing on what he needs with care,’ Mack told the Royal Commission.
Kody attends ‘a normal little school’, not a ‘very great school in the way of understanding of things’. But he enjoys going and ‘tries to make friends’.
Mack said the school doesn’t acknowledge Kody’s disability. When he tried to tell teachers that Kody ‘feels unsafe because someone is bullying him,’ they ‘just didn't care to listen’.
When he was about six, the NDIS assessed Kody and said he could get funding and a number of supports.
Mack had to submit evidence of Kody’s disability within 28 days. He included reports from an occupational therapist and clinical psychologist. Both ‘outlined every single thing he needs’ and ‘stated that he had autism level 2’.
‘Then two days later, I get an email that he had been removed from the NDIS.’
The NDIS officer admitted to Mack ‘she hadn’t even read the reports’.
‘It's pretty crazy to think of it and how bad they've treated us … It's been a hell of a ride since then.’
Mack lives with post-traumatic stress disorder.
‘It’s flaring up due to the NDIS mistakes and not even giving us support we needed from day one. It's hard when I don't get any support for him at all. You know, the only thing we have at the moment is a psychologist.’
Mack said the upshot was that they ‘lost a house’ and have been ‘blacklisted on the rental market’ because of ‘the way [Kody] is’.
‘He throws things around. If he had something for dinner and didn't want it, he doesn't go put it in the bin like a normal child does, he hides it.’
Mack and Kody ended up living in ‘a squatter's house’. The Queensland floods had left two rooms of a private rental house intact.
Mack managed to get Kody’s funding reinstated, but wanted the plan reviewed. He met with a support worker from a disability support service to discuss Kody’s goals.
‘He wanted to be more social, to go spend time at other places and do things out in public … [but] not one of them were included.’
‘The local area coordinator completely stuffed the plan up. She didn't care.’
Instead she had written down on Kody’s plan, ‘my dad will do this, my dad will do that’. ‘I actually specifically stated I cannot,’ said Mack.
Kody is on less funding now.
‘All this is affecting him badly and we're trying to deal with it.’
He’s awaiting ‘a full review’ after an internal review officer agreed the ‘plan needs to be looked at 100 per cent’.
Mack just wants his son ‘to have the supports that he needs’.
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.