Vickie
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.
Vickie is in her 50s and lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.
A few years ago, Vickie arranged with her service provider to have her house cleaned.
‘They didn't clean me up, they cleaned me out,’ Vickie told the Royal Commission. ‘These people that were supposed to clean out my house, it was the stuff that I, in my debilitated state, that I asked them to save and they shoved under their shirts on the way out.’
Vickie said the cleaners took more than $100,000 worth of her property including jewellery, clothes, furniture, appliances, art and even her medication.
‘And what was worse is on the front lawn I was having a psychiatric breakdown … They did everything to conceal these objects. They didn't walk up to me and say … "Look, we've found strings of pearls," or my jewel box with all the diamonds and aquamarines in, "Oh, do you want this jewel box?"’
Vickie said after the cleaners had removed everything from the house, she contacted the company to try to get some of her things back.
‘The guy who took the furniture away … he only gave me back furniture which his staff had smashed … The [other workers] who stole all my tens of thousands of jewellery, they didn't even answer the phone calls where I asked them to give stuff back.’
Vickie said when she complained to the NDIS, her service provider ‘stopped providing services’.
‘So for six months I had nothing at all in the worst period, in one of the worst crises in my entire life.’
Police told Vickie that because she was at her house at the time, they won’t investigate. She said the cleaning company offered her compensation that didn’t even cover the cost of her PTSD treatment.
‘It's left me even more isolated than before.’
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.