Lorraine
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.
‘They have created a culture where working illegally and immorally you get away with it. And they have been getting away with it for so long.’
Lorraine has been working for the same disability service provider for more than a decade.
‘Every single site I’ve been at … there has been something [wrong], to the point of someone going to jail or just morally not right,’ Lorraine told the Royal Commission. ‘And all the long-time staff members that I know, it’s [also] every site they have been at.’
Lorraine said at her first job, her manager verbally abused staff ‘to the point that they were in tears each day’.
‘She started doing it to customers … [She told] one of my customers … “You’re stupid. You don’t understand what I’m saying, do you.” I think it was that same day she grabbed another customer, who isn’t very good on his feet … and as a result he fell down.’
Lorraine told a senior staff member, who told the manager to leave ‘or be fired’.
‘She obviously left and got a job with [another service provider] within the month, so it didn’t achieve anything, really.’
Lorraine said many of the people at the same facility were funded for one-on-one support, but the service provider rostered one support worker for every five people.
‘We asked if we could get agency [help] because we weren’t coping and the customers weren’t receiving an appropriate level of care, and they wouldn’t allow it.’
Lorraine moved to another facility where she discovered a male support worker showering a female resident who’d been abused in the past.
‘We were putting in reports and asking for this not to happen on a daily basis. He was there that often. And then he got to a point where he was inappropriate towards myself and my friend … We asked to not work with him.’
Lorraine said the man was eventually convicted of assaulting a resident.
Lorraine described other incidents of abuse at other sites operated by the service provider.
‘I did put in the incident reports, but … I can’t access them anymore.’
When one of her relatives was about to be placed in a group home, Lorraine ‘begged’ his parents not to use the service provider she worked for.
‘They didn’t listen, but, like, they didn’t really have many options.’
Lorraine said one day a support worker injured her relative by cleaning him with a high-pressure hose. ‘There was no incident report.’ When his parents told staff to call a doctor, they ‘left it to another day’.
Lorraine still works for the service provider, which employs mainly part-time staff ‘even though there are people begging for full-time work’.
‘I work three jobs to meet my full-time hours … They’re just not staffing correctly.’
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.