Lochlan and Etta
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.
Lochlan has a speech impairment and became blind after being assaulted many years ago.
After a period of rehabilitation in the local hospital he was discharged. The discharge summary noted Lochlan’s ‘functional blindness’, ‘social isolation’ and its assessment that he ‘would not be able to manage in the community without significant risk to his safety and wellbeing’. It recommended a range of supports.
But with no community or public housing available Lachlan – then in his early 40s and ‘with no social supports at all’ – was placed into a private over-55s village. A community care service provider offered limited support.
Lochlan had been living in this place for about 10 years when Etta became his advocate. When she first visited his unit she was shocked.
‘[It] was filthy, cockroach infested, the carpet was badly soiled with food debris that had not been cleaned for many years.’
She told the Royal Commission the unit was not designed for a person with complete blindness. Lochlan constantly bumped into things and often stumbled. Etta suspected he might also have a cognitive or psychosocial disability.
In the village Lochlan’s social isolation had become ‘extreme’. He kept himself locked in his unit, ‘fearful for his safety and the outside world’. He relied on the radio to tell him the day and the time. He didn’t sleep in his bed but in the lounge room chair so he could stay close to the radio.
Lochlan couldn’t navigate the 30 metres to the communal dining room. The onsite manager delivered all his meals to his room. Because the manager didn’t work on weekends, they delivered all the meals for the weekend on Friday afternoon.
‘He has been starved in the past and is unable to regulate his eating, so he is in the habit of eating his weekend supply of food in one sitting and then going without over weekends.’
Etta discovered Lochlan had no teeth and couldn’t eat some of the food. Neither the service provider nor accommodation provider knew this.
Etta found out Lochlan was entitled to five hours of support each week, but the service provider only provided two hours. When she raised this they told her, ‘Lochlan can contact us at any time to request extra support.’ However Lochlan’s phone had been disconnected and he didn’t make outgoing calls because of his speech impairment.
Etta demanded the provider increase the support. She arranged a community organisation to clean the carpets at no cost. She asked another organisation to engage with him regularly, but could only find someone to commit to 30 minutes once a fortnight.
The service provider and the accommodation provider blamed each other for neglecting Lochlan. They also criticised the NDIS – both had made unsuccessful applications on Lochlan’s behalf.
Etta said the NDIS required evidence, but there was none.
Lochlan’s medical records were almost non-existent or irrelevant to his disability and support needs. Health care providers and therapists had made recommendations over the years but they had never been implemented. Etta said ‘the inertia of the bulk billing treating doctor’ contributed to Lochlan’s neglect.
Lochlan had fallen through the cracks.
Starting from scratch, Etta arranged medical and therapy assessments for Lochlan. He had no money so she had to find community organisations to fund the assessments.
It took several months to gather all the evidence the NDIS required. She told the NDIS Lochlan was in crisis and they fast-tracked some of the process.
Etta said the NDIS application process is too complex and the costs of all the required assessments too high.
‘It is certainly not for the ordinary person to navigate such a complex system to achieve the best outcome for either themselves or someone with a disability who is acting on their own or being supported by a lay person.’
Lochlan now has an NDIS plan and eventually started receiving support.
‘The joy he is experiencing at having daily support is overwhelming.’
Recently, Lochlan and Etta found out that about a decade ago Lochlan’s siblings reported him as a missing person. His brother will visit him soon.
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.