Lara-Rose
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 don’t want a free handout … All I ask for is a little bit of help.’
Lara-Rose is in her 40s and was sexually abused as a child. She now lives with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and agoraphobia.
She also has an eating disorder. A few years ago she fell, injuring her spine.
‘I can’t feel from my waist down,’ Lara-Rose told the Royal Commission. ‘Sorry, I normally never cry. I normally never get teary.’
Lara-Rose uses a wheelchair and lives alone. Since the fall, she’s gained so much weight from lack of exercise she can hardly move and is unable to leave the house.
‘I miss the basic day-to-day things in life, like just going for a shower, just going to the toilet. Being able to go to the kitchen, just little things I can’t do.’
Lara-Rose lives in a regional town and said the local hospital won’t treat her because of complications associated with her weight. She said the NDIA believes her physical disability is ‘only due to [her] weight’ and won’t help her until she can prove the disability is permanent.
‘Four times they’ve knocked me back … They just keep going on about my weight, but the thing is I’ve got spinal injuries and I’ve just been diagnosed with two broken hips.’
Lara-Rose said that despite numerous medical reports, the NDIA now wants her to have an MRI scan to show the damage to her spine. The problem is, Lara-Rose can no longer fit into the machine.
‘It’s not the weight, it’s the actual width. And I keep putting on more weight each week … I can’t get an MRI to prove what’s there that makes it a permanent disability.’
Lara-Rose receives a disability pension and the NDIS provides her with less than two hours’ support a day for her mental health disability.
‘The worst thing is that I had some money for therapies and they’ve used all that up for reports [on her physical disability]. I’ve got nothing now.’
Lara-Rose said she asked for surgery to control her weight, but her doctor said she doesn’t eat enough for surgery to work.
‘I haven’t been able to eat solid food since I was 12 years old ... I eat once a day, sometimes twice.’
Lara-Rose said pool therapy helped her to lose weight in the past. What she needs, she said, are support workers to help her access physical therapy.
‘The hospital want the NDIA to sort it, the NDIA want the hospital to sort it, but in a way I find they’re both responsible.’
In the meantime, Lara-Rose said she’s trapped in her small apartment.
‘All I do is sleep and stress, thinking what are they going to ask me next, what more do they want from me? I don’t get it … It’s really embarrassing because I was never the person to sit around.’
Lara-Rose has a master’s degree in counselling and wants to get back to work.
‘I don’t want to sit on the system forever. It’s not me. I want to learn how to live with my new disabilities.’
Lara-Rose said she’s a victim of a bureaucracy that wants her to prove her disability by having a procedure that her disability prevents her from accessing.
‘I know I haven’t got much left in life. I did fight for ages, you know what I mean, and I gave it my best shot.’
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.