Forced to live somewhere you didn’t choose, with people you don’t know. Forced to seek approval to go to work every morning. Forced to eat the same meal for dinner every night.
You have no control
Silenced when you are raped by your own support worker. Silenced when your baby is taken from your arms straight after birth. Silenced when you complain of pain or bruises that are spreading up your leg.
You have no voice
Hidden away in a house you are not allowed to leave after 5pm. Hidden in a sheltered workshop where you earn just $2.37 an hour. Hidden behind group activities you never get to choose.
You are never seen
These scenarios reflect the raw and revealing testimonies of Australian women and men with disabilities. They are disturbing experiences our society rarely spoke about – until a Royal Commission finally brought our collective dirty secrets out of the darkness and into the light. For too many years, the abuse and violence committed against people with disabilities has been overlooked and disregarded.
But no more.
The Disability Royal Commission, established more than four years ago, in April 2019, was created in response to widespread reports of “violence against, and the neglect, abuse and exploitation of, people with disability”. Its purpose was to investigate these reports by gathering information through research, public hearings
