Pat and Gail
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.
Gail believes her relative Pat has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
‘Between addiction and jail stints we have been unable to get [an] assessment,’ Gail told the Royal Commission. ‘Why is it so hard to get a diagnosis? It does not take years to find someone who can diagnose cancer or other brain injuries.’
She said Pat’s mother ‘did the best job she could do’, but could not protect him from being abused when he was a child.
Gail said Pat also has post-traumatic stress disorder from the ‘very messy’ separation of his parents, his father ‘kidnapping him from his bed while sleeping’, and relatives trying to hide him to protect him.
Because his disorder remains undiagnosed, Gail said Pat was never treated for FASD and his teachers never understood his behaviour.
One day a teacher ‘asked all the students why they didn't like [Pat]’, recorded their comments and played them back to him.
‘Social workers have stated that it sounds as if [Pat] does have FASD and it would be worthwhile having an assessment.’
Pat has spent ‘half of his adult life’ in prison.
Gail said once, when Pat was before the court, the magistrate ‘dismissed [the family’s] claims of suspected FASD’, stating ‘that he knew about FASD’.
‘Obviously [he] didn't because he would have made the connection between similar offending and untreated FASD secondary conditions.’
Gail said psychiatrists had interviewed Pat ‘for an hour and diagnosed him with anxiety’, but ‘a one-hour discussion is not what the diagnostic guidelines state’.
‘FASD is a real disability.’
‘I am just reaching out where I can because [Pat] has endured more than his fair share of neglect and abuse,’ Gail told the Royal Commission. ‘It is very difficult to get a diagnosis [of FASD] for an adult.’
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.