Nicklin
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.
‘We’ve got a disability but we can talk, we can communicate.’
Nicklin moved into a group home almost 30 years ago when he was in his early 20s. He has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair.
Initially he felt ‘quite happy’. He told the Royal Commission, ‘I was with friends.’ The house was centrally located and he was able to access the community independently.
But the house wasn’t designed for wheelchairs.
After a few years Nicklin asked management if they could build a house nearby – he wanted ‘a place where I could wheel around’. Management said they had no money.
Then one day the manager showed Nicklin a house with a ‘lovely view’ some distance away. The manager tried to convince him it would be a great place to live. Nicklin disagreed. ‘I said that’s your opinion.’
Nicklin didn’t want to live there, but they ‘just moved [him]’.
‘I thought you bastards, I was furious.’
Nicklin says the house is cold and noisy because of the high ceilings and hard floors. He lives with three other people who are ‘not good to live with’. With four people and support staff it’s like living with ‘raging bulls’.
The house is not accessible. The bedrooms are small. Nicklin said it’s ‘damn hard’ to get his wheelchair around his bed. The outside paths are half cement and half grass, making them impossible to navigate in a wheelchair.
Over the years Nicklin has ‘just shut up and put up with it’.
About a year ago Nicklin developed pressure sores because his wheelchair no longer supports him properly. He has no feeling below the waist and didn’t realise the sores were opening and getting worse. ‘Community nurses were coming in and they weren’t doing their job properly.’
The sores became so infected Nicklin was bedridden for nine months. He said it was a terrible time and he felt his life was ‘crap’. He had ‘some horrible thoughts’ and wanted to suicide.
For a short time staff moved him to the large bedroom at the front of the house. He said this room was much better because he was closer to staff and ‘could communicate and talk to them’.
Nicklin is slowly getting back to the things he did before he had bed sores. He goes bowling, to the movies and spends time in the community.
But he is back in his small bedroom. The cramped conditions and the noise in the house continue to irritate him. One of the women in the house chooses the food they eat and tells the staff how to cook it. She chooses very fatty food. ‘She’s stuck in the 1940s,’ Nicklin said. Although he’s ‘not one to start arguments over food’ he would like to live with just one other person.
‘It’d be a step in the right direction if I could choose. It infuriates me because we should have our rights to say who we want in the house … but we don’t.’
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.