Mullins and Jericho

‘I wanted him to be able to access the community with dignity, and to not have this embarrassing total bladder loss that could have been so easily prevented.’

In the 2010s, Jericho worked as a community access worker helping group home residents with a range of activities in the community.

Mullins, who is autistic and non-verbal, was one of Jericho’s clients. He exhibited ‘hitting behaviour’ and had incontinence issues. Staff at the group home believed he deliberately wet his pants ‘to sabotage an outing’ and called him ‘a naughty boy’.

Staff refused to allow Mullins to use incontinence aids. If he wet his pants once, staff told Jericho to change his clothes and continue the outing. If Mullins wet his pants twice, Jericho had to terminate the outing and take him back to the home. If Mullins hit Jericho, he had to terminate the outing.

Jericho wanted to build a relationship with Mullins. So, when Mullins hit him he decided to ignore the instructions and continue the outing. Jericho also decided to manage his toileting and introduce more frequent toilet breaks. Eventually, ‘after some very intensive work’, they were able to complete a whole bushwalk circuit. They went to a museum, bakeries and different shops. Jericho established a routine so Mullins felt safe. The hitting behaviour disappeared. Jericho’s employer told him Mullins was ‘thriving’.

‘The adult guardian was able to reduce the restrictive practice that he was under … his chemical restraint was reduced during that time.’

However, incontinence continued to be an issue and Mullins would rush to the toilet and become very distressed, to the point of crying. Jericho didn’t believe the behaviour was ‘naughty’ and deliberate.

Jericho noticed that the more Mullins exercised the more he needed to urinate. The home dismissed these observations. One staff member felt Mullins was urinating because the outings were the same and he was showing he was bored. Jericho didn’t agree.

Regardless of why the incontinence was occurring, Jericho believed a grown man who emptied his bladder in public needed incontinence aids. Mullins was getting a reputation for urinating in public and wasn’t welcomed in public spaces.

Jericho continued to advocate strongly and eventually staff gave Mullins incontinence aids on four outings. On two occasions Mullins experienced full bladder loss and the pads contained the urine. However, when a senior staff member found out, they put a stop to the pads because they hadn’t been medically prescribed.

Jericho discovered staff kept Mullins in urine-soaked clothing so he ‘learned consequences’. Jericho reported this to management, but they believed this was an appropriate response to incontinence.

‘I was told that under my watch he had developed an autistic-like obsession with going to the toilet.’

Jericho continued to speak up on behalf of Mullins, but management told him they would terminate his employment if he didn’t stop. Ultimately, they moved him to another home and he wasn’t able to appeal the decision.

Jericho resigned and made an official complaint.

‘I reached out to the adult guardian and I found out that they take a very dim view of people being kept in wet clothing as a kind of punishment and that anybody with continence needs should be referred to a continence nurse.’