Mina, Camille and Nikolai
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.
‘One day [children] are … in the class, tomorrow they’re going to be lawyers, judges, police officers in our society. If we have the disabled people in the classroom in the mainstream, we’re going to accept them in our society from the start.’
Nikolai told the Royal Commission his daughter Mina was barred from mainstream education and ‘didn’t learn nothing for 13 and a half years’.
Mina, early 20s, has a mild intellectual disability. At six, her mum passed away and Nikolai, who spoke little English at the time, took his family to live in a regional town. Camille is Mina’s stepmother.
Mina attended the local state school and was ‘put into the unit’. Nikolai ‘can’t call it a school because it was a prison in the school’. Children with disability were separated – ‘locked up away from everybody else,’ Camille said.
Teachers gave Mina the same work from year 1 to year 6 and never taught her anything constructive. Nobody helped her change her clothes if she wet herself, and she would arrive at after-school care in wet clothes. Mina continues to be incontinent from being in wet clothes all day.
Nikolai repeatedly tried to advocate for Mina, asking the principal to move her to a mainstream class.
‘Literally, the way they treat us personally was we don’t know nothing especially because I didn’t speak much English … Laughing in our face when you're asking serious questions … ’
High school was more of the same. Mina was placed in a unit, fenced off from the rest of the school – even her sister couldn’t talk to her or visit her.
Every report from year 7 to year 12 said Mina couldn’t concentrate and was messy. ‘If that is the case,’ Camille said, why didn’t teachers ‘focus on that and try to actually improve it’. Often teachers ‘copied and pasted’ reports and Mina’s report was littered with other students’ names. ‘That’s the type of care that this school gave. Zero,’ Camille said.
The principal ignored Nikolai’s pleas to allow Mina to attend sewing and cooking classes. Mina said she really ‘wanted to do the childcare class’ but ‘was denied’. In year 12 Mina wanted to attend a work placement, but again the school refused.
By year 12, Mina’s self-esteem and confidence were so low she felt like she was ‘no-one’. Nikolai had ‘had enough’ and removed her from school.
‘She couldn’t even look someone in the eye,’ Camille said. ‘It took her a very long time. She’s still not confident … It’s still very, very hard socially for her … It really damaged her.’
Mina has one suggestion for schools wanting to do better. ‘Remove the fences,’ she said.
Mina now attends classes and activities in the community funded through her NDIS package. She works in a café one day a week and hopes to be able to live independently.
‘That’s what we are working towards,’ Camille said, ‘but it’s making sure that she is ready plus we find the right type of … housing.’
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.