Solene
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.
Solene is autistic and in her 50s. She lives with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
‘My first encounter with the mental health system was because I felt suicidal,’ she told the Royal Commission. Mental health workers gave Solene electroconvulsive therapy. They said it was in her ‘best interests’ because she was treatment resistant.
‘I didn’t fully understand. I knew by then the word schedule, I knew I could be locked up and things be taken away. And that’s when my story starts going downhill.’
Solene says the treatment gave her an acquired brain injury.
‘From that point on, it exacerbated my autism. As a result, I have a degenerative – like a dementia thing. So then, I needed the support.’
Solene was already on the NDIS, but the agency wouldn’t increase her support.
‘Then I become homeless and nobody cared.’
After staying in a couple of homeless shelters, Solene moved into a group home run by a disability services provider.
Solene said the way staff at the group home treated people with intellectual disability and mental health problems was ‘intolerable’. Support workers locked Solene out of the common areas when she was having a meltdown.
‘And that went on for two days. It was very abusive. I had workers yelling at me. Like, I’m in a meltdown and they’re keeping me in meltdown … For an autistic person to have a meltdown for even an hour, like the toll on yourself it’s …’
Solene went for days without medication because staff refused to give it to her.
‘I had a PRN [medication that is taken as needed], and I was able to say when I needed it, and I knew, like, I could have one tablet to calm me down.’
At the home, Solene witnessed the deaths of two people with mental health issues, that were ‘completely preventable’. One man barricaded himself in his room wanting to kill himself. Staff ‘dawdled around’ for hours before calling the police, by which time the man was dead. Workers ignored another man who was saying, ‘I can hardly breathe, I’ve got massive pain.’ The next morning, he was found dead on the kitchen floor.
At another home, Solene faced ‘repetitive, restrictive practices’ that included locked gates and doors.
‘I was left in the house, I was in shutdown. I was left for months – no staff, no food, no anything, and the NDIS knew. I was completely terrorised.’
Once she rang the police in desperation.
‘[The house manager] goes, “Well, it’s behaviour, look what we have to put up with.” And the police would leave and they would never believe me.’
She wants police to treat calls from people in disability accommodation as domestic violence.
‘Police need to be aware that most if not all of these calls are not from people making it up. There’s literally nowhere to help.’
Solene said the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission failed on its promise to fully investigate her complaints.
‘A lot of this stuff is criminal. It’s not, “Oh, we’re going to just hear this and do nothing.”’
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.