Sven and Katriona
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.
Katriona is in her 80s and cares for her grandson, Sven, who’s in his 30s and has Down syndrome.
‘My grandson who drives a car has a full licence, holds down two jobs … is a very capable person,’ Katriona told the Royal Commission. ‘So the discrimination and the low expectation and the bias that we’ve actually had throughout his life really does not equate to him.’
Katriona said the low expectations of Sven started in a mainstream primary school. A teacher told her to put him into a special education school, but she refused.
‘I said … “I would like him preferably to stay in a regular school where he would be taught amongst his peers, regular peers, so that anything he learned in the way of behaviour would be from his regular peers rather than from other children with disabilities.”’
Katriona said the school continued to discriminate against him. When he left the class without permission one day to go to the toilet, the teacher called a meeting with her and the principal.
‘Which I thought was ridiculous because if a regular child does that they will simply say, well, next time you leave the class tell the teacher. But, no … the focus was on the disability.’
Katriona said Sven’s high school once denied him work experience. When she asked why, she discovered the school had described him as ‘severely disabled’.
‘Couldn’t look after himself, couldn’t communicate, couldn’t commute.’
When she challenged these descriptions, the school found him a placement where the employer gave him a ‘really good report’.
Sven’s first job out of school was in regular employment for an award wage, but after a few weeks someone in management had him reassessed.
‘A regular person would be given the opportunity to work for three months before they assessed him at the job … And after they then reduced his wages to quarter of the award.’
Sven has since used a number of Disability Employment Services to help him find a job, but they rarely offered anything suitable. Not long after Sven found a job himself, an employment service asked him to quit to take a job as a cleaner.
‘He was already working [in a job he liked], why would he then stop working … to clean toilets?’
Sven enrolled in a hospitality course and now works for an award wage outside the disability employment system.
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.