Piers and Danelle
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.
Piers is a First Nations teenager with psychosis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, borderline personality disorder, dyslexia and learning difficulties.
‘I've been dealing with people with disability since, God, all my life,’ his mum Danelle told the Royal Commission. Danelle’s brother and former partner both have disability and both spent time in prison.
‘[Prison] doesn't help them at all. It just makes things worse. I'm trying to break that cycle.’
Danelle said the NDIA rejected her applications to support Piers.
‘I applied twice, but they've been knocked back so, yeah, I just didn't bother anymore.’
Danelle said Piers sometimes comes home with black eyes and other injuries because, without treatment for his psychosis, his behaviour is confronting.
‘He hears and sees things that aren't there so when he's walking around in the streets he would sort of nearly attack or abuse someone that was near him because he thought that it was coming from them when it wasn't.’
Police have arrested Piers several times in the past few years. Recently, Danelle saw several police officers throw him to the ground.
‘I actually jumped in between them to stop them because I said, “He suffers from this. You can't approach him this way, like, he will get more aggressive” … and they actually said to me, “Aren't you afraid of him?” [I said] “He's my child, like why would I be afraid of him … He's aggressive because you're surrounding him and he feels he's being enclosed. Just walk away.” They don't understand. They really, really don't.’
Piers recently spent a short time in a youth detention centre ‘which with his psychosis is really bad’.
‘They're not trained in helping people with disabilities or mental illness or anything. Like instead of putting these kids and adults in prisons they should be making hospitals.’
Danelle’s former partner, who had schizophrenia and depression, was recently released from prison. Not long after, he killed himself.
‘There's so many adults and so many young with disabilities that come out [of prison], that die,’ Danelle told the Royal Commission.
Danelle’s brother, who has brain damage, is still in prison awaiting trial.
‘They're saying that he's putting it on. I don't understand how someone that's been diagnosed with … brain damage from the day he was born is putting on something. It's so wrong. Like it doesn't make sense.’
Danelle fears Piers will also end up in prison because of his disability. She never used to make her and her son’s First Nations heritage known to authorities – she feared it might make things worse for him.
‘My dad always told us not to tell our background [because] … people look down on you.’
Danelle struggled for years to get Piers appointments with specialists.
‘So I've only just started saying [we are First Nations] the last couple of years because I've actually needed help, more help with my children.’
Piers now sees a psychologist who specialises in psychosis. Danelle hopes they can keep Piers out of prison.
‘Something really does need to change with the judicial system and disabilities.’
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.