Roderick
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.
Roderick is in his 50s and has a learning disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
More than a decade ago, Roderick worked as a train guard.
‘When I applied I never said I had a disability or anything like that,’ Roderick told the Royal Commission. ‘I didn't want to disclose it at all. I was quite scared disclosing anything like that.’
After a few years Roderick decided to switch to a trade, to ‘shore up [his] future’ in the railways department.
Roderick told his managers he had a learning disability and asked for reasonable adjustments to apply for an apprenticeship.
‘I didn't want to be looked upon as being getting favourable treatment or anything like that. I just wanted to try and blend in with the crowd and just do my work.’
Roderick scored highly in the test and did an apprenticeship through TAFE.
‘[TAFE] were superb in helping me out, but they've got a disability support manager there … They supported me 100 per cent.’
When Roderick finished his apprenticeship, he was given a job in an area of the railways in which he had little experience. His colleagues bullied him because he didn’t have the skills.
‘I need to do a job five or six times to get it. I just needed more practice.’
He took sick leave because he ‘couldn't handle the harassment’.
‘I wasn't sleeping very well at all. I started arguing with my wife, my children. I was getting very aggressive … It was quite a tough time in my life.’
Because of all the leave he was taking, Roderick’s managers sent him to a department psychologist to be assessed.
‘I didn't know at the time, but that … assessment was to try and terminate my employment … [The psychologist] said I wouldn't be able to do that job anymore or either of my jobs, train guard or [trade] position.’
Roderick disagreed and paid for another psychologist to review that assessment.
‘Most of the results were within normal, you know. I was just a normal human being, but I picked up things a bit slower.’
As a result of that review his employer refrained from sacking him, but did demote him to his original train guard position. They said he wasn’t fit for duty in his trade.
‘I'd gained that qualification, so for them to say I'm not fit for duty for that role when I'd just passed the licensing requirements for that role [was] a bit hard to swallow.’
Roderick has since applied for more than 50 jobs within the department and ‘hasn’t got one of them’.
He discovered later that one of his managers was ‘after [his] scalp’.
‘She said, “If I didn’t know you had a disability, I wouldn’t have tried to terminate you.” That's her own words.’
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.