Truett
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.
Truett is a First Nations man in his mid-30s. He has an intellectual disability and an acquired brain injury from a major car accident about five years ago.
Truett was in prison when he spoke to the Royal Commission. He was trying to work with welfare services to organise visits from his young son Matty, but the process was full of obstacles he didn’t understand.
‘You know, the more I explained to them that … I don’t know what I’m doing, not even did they say once, go and speak to a lawyer or anything. But, no, it was just – I’m just another numbnut. I’m just another Koori in their way. Yeah, whatever. Written off to the side. And it’s disgusting.’
A few years ago a court ordered a paternity test. Truett agitated to have it done, but it didn’t happen till more than a year later.
‘So it should have been done and the more I rang up, phone call after phone call after phone call after phone call, and getting nowhere.’
In the meantime, he hasn’t been allowed to see Matty except on video link.
Truett says welfare workers do not care about his situation.
‘They told me what they wanted me to hear, get rid of me off the phone and then nothing happened. And it’s really, really depressing.’
He also feels they are deliberately provoking him.
‘They’re making up whatever they can to try and get me to go off my head so that then they can go, “Right, that’s it. No contact allowed.” They’re doing whatever they can to try and make me flip out, while I’ve been trying to do everything the right way … doing everything the way I should. And it’s been difficult for me but I’m trying.’
Truett said that being a father ‘means the world’.
‘I deserve to go to wrap him in my arms. I deserve to go and, you know, like, him and I have been robbed all of this time and all this stuff … and that’s just wrong.’
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.