Raul and Anya
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.
‘The individual houses … from my experience, they’re mini institutions.’
Anya is in her 70s and the mother of Raul, who has an intellectual disability and epilepsy.
‘He was a perfectly normal, healthy child until he was three and had a virus,’ Anya told the Royal Commission. ‘Progressive brain damage caused uncontrolled epilepsy, loss of intellect and other faculties.’
Anya said surgery to reduce the seizures paralysed one side of Raul’s body and damaged his sight.
Anya and her husband cared for Raul at home for nearly 30 years.
‘We were pushing the envelope a bit at that stage.’
A decade ago, they placed Raul in a government-supported group home.
‘I don't think a mother is ever ready to part with a child.’
Anya said the government told her Raul would be the first resident in a new ‘purpose-built’ group home, but didn’t show her the plans. She didn’t see Raul’s room until the day he moved in.
‘It was only a standard-sized room … [Raul] has a king-single hospital bed, so it’s large. He’s a large man in a large wheelchair, so he wasn’t able to move freely around his room … he can’t access the window side of the bed at all. There is no room in there for him to have a chair and sit and, say, watch TV and have time out.’
Anya said that when she and her husband complained, the government department tried unsuccessfully ‘to override [their] guardianship’, saying Anya and her husband weren't working in Raul’s interest. ‘After nearly 30 years of your life down the drain. No career, nothing.’
Anya said that once in the home, the service provider continued to ignore her concerns about how Raul’s support workers treated him.
One day, Anya was visiting and found Raul alone in the shower.
‘He’s never to be left alone in the shower. He didn’t have a strap on restraining him in the chair. He had access to the hot water tap … if he’d fallen off that chair and struck his head from that height – the shower chair is quite high – that could be fatal.’
Anya told the house manager.
‘The response to that was, “Right, you came in when we were showering him and so it’s your fault, so you can stay away between 5 and 8 pm any day of the week”, and we were banned. So, we could not enter the premises … I think that was about 12 months.’
Another time, Anya received a call saying Raul had fallen but ‘wasn’t hurt’.
‘Then we got the incident report … What happened was that [Raul] was on the toilet on his own and someone came in and found him on the floor non-responsive. He was unconscious … they didn’t call any medical help and finally they got him and put him to bed with no medical help. They just put him to bed for the night.’
Anya said staff also ignored his dietitian’s advice and fed Raul party pies and pizza.
‘They would purchase the takeaway food with [Raul’s] personal expenditure funding. He was paying board and lodging for the food already, so they were doing a double dip on that.’
Anya believes the neglect and abuse stems from inadequate staff training.
‘I’m sad to say, but it does seem to reflect society’s attitudes towards those with disabilities, or older [people], not necessarily being valuable. And that’s the intrinsic bottom line I think with this. Not everybody is respected for who they are. And give them care that they need, not what, you know, the budget’s going to allow for.’
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.