Rajesh and Ahmir
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.
Rajesh, 12, is autistic, non-verbal and has intellectual disability. Ahmir, his dad, is a single parent of three boys, and Rajesh’s full-time carer.
A few years ago, not long after the NDIS was introduced, Ahmir had a meeting with the NDIS local area coordinator to discuss Rajesh’s support needs and funding.
Ahmir had all the relevant information and was well prepared for the meeting.
The coordinator arrived one hour late. By then Rajesh had become increasingly bored and ‘was off his tree’, running around the waiting area.
Ahmir told the Royal Commission he could smell alcohol on the coordinator’s breath. The coordinator did not want to listen to him or review the paperwork. ‘He didn’t bother. He’d already pre-prepared what the case was.’
The meeting lasted 15 minutes.
Afterwards, the coordinator escorted Ahmir next door to personally introduce him to a service provider. He told him the provider was ‘a very nice guy’ and he could get ‘all the services’ from him. Ahmir discovered the coordinator and service provider had been at lunch together prior to the planning meeting.
The initial funding was $20,000 and was totally inadequate for the supports Rajesh required.
Amir contacted the coordinator asking him to come to his home to see ‘the living situation’. The coordinator said there was ‘no option for that’.
Ahmir made a complaint to the NDIS about the coordinator’s conduct. He discovered ‘there is a clear option’ for a coordinator to visit the home and ‘see the real situation and … assess the situation’.
The NDIS apologised and increased Rajesh’s funding to $100,000.
However, it was a ‘cut and paste’ of the previous plan. The additional funding could not be used because it was not allocated to the therapeutic supports Rajesh needed.
A short time later, Ahmir discovered the service provider was fraudulently claiming an online course they’d developed as speech pathology. ‘I did not agree with that. This is illegal.’
Ahmir made a complaint to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
The service provider was ‘not happy about [his] complaints’ and he didn’t feel they were ‘honest people’.
‘I have much time for the NDIS … It is good for the parents to help with the kids. I appreciate[it]. And there are good people – only one or two bad people.’
Ahmir moved his family interstate to find a new provider and to send Rajesh to a school a friend had recommended.
Rajesh now has an appropriate plan and can access the therapies and supports he needs.
However, Ahmir is under a lot of stress providing support for Rajesh. ‘It’s very hard to look after [Rajesh]. Nobody can take care 24/7 as a single parent.’ He says that his attention is required at all times and it is having an impact on his mental health.
‘What happens to [Rajesh]’s future? Who will look after him? At least if the NDIS can promise me a better service and insurance, then I’ll be out of that stress.’
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.