Sid
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.
Sid is in his 50s and is partially paralysed. He lives with chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
A few years ago, after an operation, he asked his service provider for a support worker to drive him to an appointment.
‘I didn’t think it would turn into what it did,’ Sid told the Royal Commission. ‘It was terrifying.’
Sid said when the worker picked him up she at first drove ‘very gently’ around speed humps because of his operation.
It was a hot day and when she couldn’t find the address, she became aggressive.
‘She went into three businesses asking, “Is it here? Is it here?” … she’d left me in 37-degree sun, and … I just said, “Look can we just go home?” … She lost the plot.’
The support worker drove fast and aimed for the speed humps.
‘She would accelerate into the base of them and the car would launch and then she’d accelerate again when it landed so it would go “bang”. And I’m there screaming because my body’s had enough.’
Sid said she drove past his street and kept going. When she started to slow down several minutes later, he reached for the door ready to jump out ‘and she took off again’.
‘I just kept saying to her, “Why are you doing this?”’ … She just wouldn’t stop the car. And then at one point she turned the music right up full bore and she said, “I drive better like this.”’
Sid said she eventually turned around and left him on the street near his house.
‘I got out of the car, [she] threw my backpack and my iPad on the driveway and smashed it, got in her car and drove off.’
Sid said when he reported the incident to the service provider, the provider told him the support worker had ‘received appropriate feedback and [been] counselled’.
‘I just wanted someone to say that she’s not going to do it anymore to anyone. I don’t know if she’s even still working there. I don’t know.’
He said a service provider executive told him to replace the broken iPad using his NDIS package. The provider then charged Sid for several hours of support work at $165 an hour, even though the car trip was less than an hour.
Sid now has a new service provider which also charges him for services it doesn’t deliver.
‘I call it “cash cowing”. They’re just cash cowing my package … They just don’t turn up for stupid reasons or they don’t even bother telling me why. They just don’t turn up.’
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.