Tyrone and Carlotta*
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.
Tyrone is autistic. He started kindergarten about a decade ago.
‘Academically I’d never worried about him at this point,’ his mother Carlotta told the Royal Commission. ‘As a four-year-old he was writing books, he has been read to since a baby, so he was really good with shapes, with numbers. I had a book that was 167 pages … If I was to read that to him and miss a word, he would bring me back. That’s how much of a memory, and he was quite amazing for his age, way above level.’
But Tyrone had to ‘stay back’ at kindergarten.
He was ‘continually absconding … if he felt scared or frustrated’.
The school psychologist kept testing him ‘well below his capabilities’. The assessments involved ‘a truck sitting on a page’ or a cat.
The school provided him with ‘no real academic teaching’. Carlotta asked for more support, but the school refused.
Tyrone then went to a special school ‘where he was with seven children that couldn’t speak’. It had locked doors and high fences to stop students absconding, but the learning ‘was two levels below a mainstream school’.
Carlotta quickly noticed ‘he’s not flourishing, he’s going backwards’.
‘There was less talking from him, he started to get animal-like noises and grunts and became angry and a little bit aggressive. There was no longer the communication.’
Carlotta said Tyrone knew he was ‘in the wrong environment’.
‘He was saying, “I don’t like the school, I don’t want to be there. When is school going to sort out?”’
Tyrone wanted to go to the local public school instead.
‘We can’t support him and we don’t want him here,’ was the school’s response.
Carlotta explained that all Tyrone required was a shared aide ‘outside mainly, in the playground’.
‘If you want to pursue this, I’ll make sure that he never comes here,’ said the principal.
Carlotta turned to the education department and lawyers to intervene.
‘And everywhere discrimination. It’s just been relentless and fallen on deaf ears,’ she said.
‘This is my little boy and it is neglect. He’s got a human right. He could clearly be in the school, he just needed support.’
Carlotta kept advocating to get Tyrone to his school of choice. Eventually, the school let him attend one day a week.
‘They’ve very, very supportive. The principal is above and beyond. She is so understanding, she is so inclusive, she has a sensory room. She builds things to help out children with extra needs.’
But Tyrone has missed the ‘massive part, the foundation’ of his education.
‘Till this day, he still can’t read … He’s given up on life, he’s virtually non-verbal right now. He's a mess mentally, socially. He was loved at kinder and popular when he went to school, and kind, caring, protective, funny, smart. But he’s had it taken from him because he just hasn’t had the support and the encouragement and the inclusion.’
‘Money should be put into education because the ramifications of a child not being supported and not being socialised, not being in an educational setting, it sets them up for lifelong failure. It’s terrible.’
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.