Rina and Janie
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.
‘If there was any place that should accept [Rina] it was an educational setting … And it made us feel like, if they don't accept her, how is the rest of society going to accept her?’
Janie is the mother of Rina, who’s autistic and just started primary school.
‘I was born overseas and my parents are both non-English speaking. Public education gave me the pathway to success,’ Janie told the Royal Commission. ‘So it's been really disheartening to see that those same accommodations were not made for [Rina] who has a disability.’
Rina is non-verbal and also has a moderate intellectual disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. When she started childcare, the centre manager didn’t want her there and separated her from her peers.
‘She would discuss [Rina’s] disability in the foyer,’ Janie said. ‘[One time] she proceeded to yell across the room that [Rina] was developmentally delayed and that she should not go forward … She just saw [Rina] as a problem as opposed to wanting to work with our family.’
When Janie tried to enrol Rina in a mainstream primary school, the vice-principal refused to meet her. Once Rina was enrolled, the vice-principal sent her paperwork to another school.
‘I just didn’t understand why she did that without even talking to us … We had really tried so hard to provide everything that we needed to do to get [Rina] into our local school, which she has every legal right to go to. And we just kept getting, you know, pushback and gatekeeping.’
Janie said the vice-principal eventually ‘won’ and she withdrew Rina from the school.
Janie enrolled Rina in a local private school and is now ‘on edge’ wondering if it, too, will reject her.
‘One particular teacher … made a comment that [Rina] is a difficult child and that she was not willing to lower her expectations to accommodate [Rina’s] needs, which was really hard to hear.’
Janie is reluctant to complain.
‘It's such a fine line where you don't want to upset the school because you feel like, are they going to ask you to leave, you know?’
Janie said experts advise her to keep Rina in a mainstream school, but ‘it’s just really so difficult’.
‘They all say, “This is the way we should be going, this should be the future.” But it's not reality, you know? It's not our reality. It never was from the start,’ Janie told the Royal Commission.
Janie said although she and her husband pay full fees for the private school, Rina’s only allowed to attend part time, which makes it difficult to keep working to pay the fees.
‘We want children with disabilities to be in schools because, for me, I see so much value in it. [Rina] gets to be a part of her community … and those children in the class with [Rina], they’re learning so much from her just as much as she is learning from them. But there needs to be better facilitation of this so it's not so difficult and traumatising for the family.’
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.