Lester
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.
Lester is a retired disability support worker in his 60s. He has a son who is autistic.
‘[He] came into the system when things were very positive [in the 1990s],’ Lester told the Royal Commission.
Lester used to work as a tradie and his son lived at home. Lester said he ‘never really saw the bad side of disability’ until he changed careers and became a support worker at a psychiatric hospital.
‘It was absolute filth that people were living in. But I saw them transition into houses that were, you know, you’re going from institution to palaces. The [group] houses were beautiful.’
Lester said despite the better accommodation, some staff who also transitioned from institutions to group homes brought the institutional culture with them.
‘The old-school of the institutions is still clear and present in the hierarchy of disability service provision. There’s old-school people in there who you wouldn’t let look after your dog.’
Lester said that when he first worked in a government-run group home he assumed he’d be ‘walking into a, you know, a well-run place’.
‘And what I walked into there was, the house had been allowed to slide.’
For example, staff ate the residents’ food and used their money. Lester said he saw a cook regularly serve ‘a glutenous muck’ they called fried rice. ‘It was slop.’
Lester said one resident developed an infection because he lay in a wet bed.
‘Every day his bed was soaking wet because they weren’t managing his incontinence … So every morning, you know, his bed would be soaked, the floor would be soaked and you’d go through the same process every morning. And I tried to make them aware of this stuff.’
Lester reported the neglect and abuse, and suffered the repercussions.
‘Management let [the perpetrators] off, and I got targeted by the house super and the house staff and management and I got moved.’
Lester said he was given fewer shifts and lost income.
He retired several years ago.
‘If you work, you know, with people with disability, you share experiences with them. But these people in [the department] and management didn’t share experience. There was no humanity to the way they did the job, no empathy, no, perhaps, looking for how I can improve these things.’
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.