Quentin and Reyna
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.
‘He was Deaf, that’s all. They treated him horribly. These people treated him like [he was] nothing.’
Reyna is in her 60s and has mild intellectual disability. Her partner, Quentin, was a Deaf man in his 70s. The couple had been together for nearly 20 years.
Quentin relied on Reyna to be his interpreter and carer. She was ‘by his side all the time’.
Reyna told the Royal Commission their lives were destroyed when, without their knowledge or consent, the public trustee took control of Quentin’s health decisions and financial affairs.
‘He was an independent man ... [who] wanted me to look after him. That’s what he said.’
Quentin had lived in a retirement unit for several years. He was ineligible for NDIS supports, so he applied for an Aged Care Support Package. The GP who assessed his eligibility told Reyna that Quentin would need a brain scan ‘to see if he’s okay’.
‘He was going all right,’ said Reyna. But then he had a vomiting episode and had to be rushed to hospital.
Reyna arrived at the hospital the next day to visit him. She was surprised to find that staff were moving Quentin to ‘the ninth level’.
She didn’t understand what that meant. As he approached the ward’s entrance, Quentin spotted signs on the wall. He asked, ‘Are we in the dementia ward, [Reyna]? Why am I in the dementia ward?’
Reyna was also confused. ‘[Quentin] did not have dementia,’ she said. ‘He had hearing loss.’
The couple were unaware a social worker at the hospital had contacted the public trustee.
Quentin stayed in the dementia ward for more than two months with no interpreter to help him communicate with medical staff.
One day, they received a visit from an administrative tribunal officer, who introduced herself as Quentin’s ‘new guardian’. Without having consulted either of them, she told Quentin he would be moving into a nursing home.
Quentin responded, ‘I want to go home.’ Reyna said the officer ‘didn’t take any notice’.
‘[Quentin] didn’t have any say at all ... they just dumped him in a nursing home with the dementia residents.’
Reyna learnt much later that the public trustee did not consider her suitable to be Quentin’s full-time carer.
Reyna says staff at the nursing home were ‘not much better’. They did not assist him to shave or arrange for him to get a haircut. ‘Just left it long, that’s the nursing home for you. And they’re telling me I can’t look after him!’
Reyna went back to Quentin’s unit to collect some of his personal items. But when she opened the door ‘all his stuff was all gone’. ‘All empty!’
Neither the public trustee, nor the nursing home, had consulted Reyna or Quentin. Reyna is certain she knows why. ‘[It’s] because he’s Deaf. That’s how they treat Deaf people. They don’t care about them.’
On one occasion, Quentin gave Reyna his ATM card and asked her to withdraw money from his bank account. ‘What’s the good of [that]?’ asked Reyna. ‘You’ve got no money in it. The public trustees have taken it.’
Quentin responded, ‘That’s not fair, that’s my money.’
Reyna said that the intrusion of the Administrative Tribunal, the public trustee and the nursing home in his life left Quentin feeling ‘useless’. ‘Everything was taken from him.’
After a year of residing at the nursing home, Quentin had a stroke. He died a few days later.
‘[Quentin’s] rotting ... in the cemetery now ... I miss him so much,’ said Reyna.
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.