Marguerite
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.
Marguerite is in her 30s and has borderline personality disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder and cognitive impairment. Until recently she was homeless, which she puts down to poor housing services in regional New South Wales.
‘I've been sleeping in my car,’ she told the Royal Commission. ‘And since when I came here, I also been struggling finding an emergency accommodation. There's nothing really here.’
Meanwhile, Marguerite can’t get proper mental health support. Even in the closest city, she said, ‘there is nothing at all’. She finds it odd that there’s no public mental health services for such ‘a big population’.
Marguerite tried a couple of specialists.
‘They just turn their back on me … They just said, "Nope, we cannot handle your situation … You're so very complicated." And they’re neglecting me with my needs … Like, you are a medical professional. I know what are – what is your duty of care?’
Her only option is going to a capital city for care, but she hates ‘crowds and traffic’.
Marguerite is trying to get support from the NDIS.
‘I've been working on that since last year. It’s hard for me to do it without a case coordinator. Especially that I am struggling with my mental health.’
She is ‘overwhelmed by the paperwork’ and doesn’t understand why she’s ‘been declined’ several times.
‘It’s too complex. They got endless questions and it's just repetitive. The list goes on. I submitted them hospital records, medical reports, specialist reports, different types of victim services counselling, physiotherapist, you name it. Medical practitioners, everything, but it's insufficient.’
Her psychiatrist is encouraging her to try for the Disability Support Pension instead.
‘He told me, “It's so hard for me to make a report because NDIS are very demanding."’
Meanwhile, Marguerite feels it’s going to take ‘years and years’ to qualify for social housing. Local housing services keep questioning her eligibility, despite the evidence provided by medical professionals.
She finds her current lodgings unsafe, but the department is not giving her ‘a right to choose’ where she lives. She said that after she complained, they ‘threatened [her] with homelessness’.
‘And they told me, "Well, we are housing you and you should be grateful for that.”’
In the last year, Marguerite has ‘been admitted several times’ to hospital – ‘Because of homelessness and I have nowhere to go.’
The lack of stability is having a ‘negative impact’ and heightening the risk of her ‘taking impulsive, risky behaviours’.
‘That's why the psychiatrist asked me to stay in hospital for I think almost two weeks, because they know that I'm going to kill myself any time.’
Marguerite is feeling increasingly isolated. She is struggling to find work due to her mental health history. Everywhere she turns, she’s finding barriers.
‘It’s like a broken record. I’m just so tired of always trying to please everyone, just to accept me and give me a chance.’
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.