Sibyl
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.
Sibyl, mid 40s, is autistic and has post-traumatic stress disorder and fibromyalgia.
She has assistance dogs that are trained to monitor her health.
‘I don’t really listen to my body at all,’ she told the Royal Commission. ‘Like I’ll just push through things, whereas [my dog], she’ll start actually indicating … if I’m about to get a migraine. She’ll alert me just before I get an aura. She does heart rate alert. Anything above 78 beats per minute, which also helps if I’m about to have anxiety or panic attack.’
Sibyl’s ex-partner of many years was abusive.
He limited her access to supports and financial services by telling her ‘you’re too disabled to do things’.
He used her dogs to control her and keep her from leaving.
He would say, ‘You can’t leave the dogs. You can’t leave the house. Where are you going to go with your dogs?’
A friend helped Sibyl engage with domestic violence (DV) services.
She discovered DV services didn’t understand service or assistance animals and how to work with them.
They only looked for emergency accommodation that would allow pets.
Sibyl said this happened multiple times despite her repeatedly explaining the access rights of assistance animals. The DV services ‘couldn’t conceptualise this notion of an assistance dog not being a pet’.
DV services treated Sibyl differently when she told them she had a disability. One time, a staff member was looking at her information and noticed she was autistic.
‘They were doing the intake, which was all perfectly fine until they said, “You’re on the spectrum are you?” And I said yes. And their whole demeanour changed and they started dumbing down their language.’
Sibyl works as an academic and at times feels like she is walking in two worlds.
‘In one world I’ve got the hat of disability, assistance dogs, so on and so forth. And then the other world I’ve got as an academic, and they don’t seem to marry up.’
Early in Sibyl’s career she was advised not to tell the university about her disability because it would be detrimental to her career.
She regularly hears staff make condescending comments about autistic students and feels nothing has changed.
Her current employer asked if she had a disability and needed reasonable accommodations. Sibyl would like to be able use her voice recognition software and have her assistant dog with her to help manage her anxiety. However being on a casual contract, she’s worried about saying, ‘Hey, I need some of that.’
‘Even if you wanted to disclose [you have a disability] you’re too concerned to actually disclose because then they might not renew your contract for the next semester.’
Sibyl says the pandemic ‘has been fabulous’ because she has been able to work remotely from home.
She believes if she didn’t have flexible work she would be on the Disability Support Pension.
‘To be honest, having money and being able to survive is way more important than actually getting reasonable accommodations.’
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.