Zeke and Helena
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.
Zeke is a teenager with autism. Helena, his mum, wrote to the Royal Commission about the neglect and abuse he has experienced at school, leaving him with diagnosed anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
It began when Zeke was in year 5 at the local primary school. Helena found out that Zeke was frequently made to sit in an office for hours on end, ‘doing nothing’.
Then there was an incident where a teacher attacked Zeke with a chair. The teacher told the young boy she would get her husband – a policeman – onto him. Zeke was so terrified ‘he walked home over 2 highways, scared [of] coming the quickest way home’.
When Zeke started at high school, all the parents with kids entering the special class ‘were sat down with police youth officer and pressured into signing papers giving permission for teachers to restrain kids’. Helena refused to sign.
The following week, Helena said, the main teacher ‘king-hit my son, bent his wrists back, stomped on his bag’. Zeke has been in counselling since this happened, about five years ago. ‘He only just got use of his wrists back.’
The abuse was reported to the police, but they said Zeke would not be a good witness because of his disability. Meanwhile the abusive teacher was still working at the school, so Helena began homeschooling Zeke.
Recently, says Helena, she was 'lured' back into sending Zeke to mainstream schooling, but the school ‘taunted’ Zeke, ‘trying to trigger his autism [to] get funding’.
This ‘taunting’ lead to Zeke having an episode, which resulted in the police tasering him, handcuffing him for hours and taking him to hospital for mental assessment.
Helena told us that as a result of his abuse Zeke now has extreme anxiety. Even as a teenager he continues to wet the bed and ‘won’t sleep cause once he does he relives the abuse’. He has put on weight, won’t leave the room and is missing out on an education, ‘all because no-one will accept he is a victim’.
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.