Nicolette
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.
Nicolette is autistic and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Until recently she worked for a childcare organisation in an administrative role.
About a year before she left, a new director started at one of the centres.
The director told Nicolette not to enrol any child with disability or special needs at her centre because they were ‘too much work’.
Nicolette was ‘shocked and offended’.
She reminded the director this was against company policy, but was ‘talked over and shot down’.
‘Each time we had an enrolment enquiry,’ Nicolette told the Royal Commission, ‘the director would ask if the child had additional needs or a disability and reminded me not to enrol them.’
One morning a mother was visiting the centre for a tour.
The director told Nicolette not to spend too much time with her because her child had disability and she ‘didn’t want him at the centre’.
When the mother left, the director told Nicolette to put a note against the person’s name so they would remember her and not offer her son a place.
After several weeks the mother’s name came to the top of the waiting list.
‘I was instructed not to offer her a place and to offer parents below her a place,’ Nicolette said. ‘I felt very upset knowing that the mother was waiting for a place at the centre and would continue to wait because she was not going to be offered a place, rather than looking elsewhere.’
Nicolette photographed the waiting list and resigned.
She made a complaint to senior management and the education department.
‘No internal investigation was conducted into the director’s actions.’
The education department told Nicolette there was nothing they could do because ‘discriminatory enrolment procedure was not directly related to national law or national regulations’.
The childcare centre said they had no record of the waiting list and suggested Nicolette was ‘simply a disgruntled employee’.
The director said she would not change anything and would do it again because there are not enough resources to support children with disability.
Nicolette said this is not correct.
Additional resources are given to centres when they enrol a child with a disability and there are clear company guidelines on how to remove any barriers that might exist when enrolling a child with a disability.
‘I am at a loss how a complaint … can result in the director retaining her position, not being counselled on her actions and continuing to practice discriminatory enrolment practices,’ Nicolette said.
‘It seems that no-one cared enough to really look into this situation, and I wonder how often this occurs? How often are people with a disability discriminated against and it’s hidden by large corporations and government departments? Possibly a lot more often than people realise.’
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.