Sidney
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.
‘I was crying because they cut my white cane. They cut it up.’
Sidney is in his 60s and is deafblind.
‘Deafblind people communicate differently,’ Sidney told the Royal Commission. ‘It's always a problem because we don't have enough interpreters who can understand me and I understand them.’
The lack of interpreters means Sidney often has to travel alone and struggles to be understood.
‘People regularly push me, and if I have a support person to guide me through the trains that's so much safer, so much better.’
Sidney recently had to fly to another city but couldn’t find anyone to go with him.
At the airport, an airline worker took his cane away.
‘She said, “You've got to be led by the arm.” And the lady took my cane and I couldn't see where my cane was. They took my cane and I had to try to follow to see the seats as to where to go. I really didn't know where I was going to go.’
Sidney said they put him at the back of the plane and when the plane landed no-one helped him.
‘I didn't know where to go, how to get out, what to do, and everything was just so wrong. And the exit sign is really small so you can't see the exit sign … You can't see where to go to walk and I kept on bumping into things.’
Sidney said he injured himself on an escalator and struggled to collect his luggage.
When he returned to the airport terminal to catch his flight home, security officers took him into a room and took away his cane.
‘They actually cut my cane up and the man punched me in the arm and then, yeah, I kept getting bumped into because of the way they were walking [me] through the airport,’ Sidney told the Royal Commission.
‘I said to them, look, I'm deafblind. I'm not a murderer. I'm deafblind. I just can't see. I'm not going to kill anybody. I'm not going to hurt anybody.’
Sidney said being deafblind is like being in solitary confinement and ‘leads to paranoia’ because it’s so difficult to communicate and understand what’s going on. Police once arrested Sidney and took him to a hospital mental health unit.
‘I said I'm deafblind. They [said] I was mentally ill and I said no, I'm not … I'm deafblind. If I'm [only] deaf it might've been a different story, but I feel like I'm in jail.’
Sidney said the hospital didn’t provide an interpreter. They put him in a room alone where he ‘got really angry’.
‘The boss of the hospital said, “This is the right place for you and you have to have medication. It will help.” I said, “I'm not mentally ill. I'm not mentally ill. I'm just deafblind.”’
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.