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Card 01: "Anastasia and Beatrix"



STACKED DECK EVIDENCE CARD SERIES

This series draws directly from the voices of disabled people who spoke to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. These are not abstract policy debates or hypothetical risks. They are lived experiences, documented, verified, and placed on the public record.


Each card presents a moment, a fragment of testimony that reveals what happens when systems are underfunded, when accountability fails, and when people are placed in environments that prioritise efficiency over dignity and safety. Together, they form a pattern that cannot be dismissed as isolated incidents.


This series exists because these stories have already been told, and too often ignored. As new changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme are proposed, these voices serve as a reminder of what is at stake.

This is not a warning. It is evidence.


Card 01: Anastasia and Beatrix

Here is the full story behind the quote recorded on this card.


Source: Disability Royal Commission (2023): Disability Royal Commission Final Report, Volume 1, Book 1, pp 13-15: Voices of people with disability.


Anastasia lives with a severe form of epilepsy, cognitive impairment, autism and a bowel condition.

Her mother Beatrix told the Royal Commission that when Anastasia was 10, in the early 2000s, she was having up to 80 seizures a day. Beatrix needed support in order to care for her.

The disability department found Anastasia a place in a respite house for three days a month. Anastasia didn’t want to go and Beatrix ‘had to drag her there’.

At this time, Anastasia’s capacity was such that she ‘couldn’t put her own shoes on, couldn’t undress herself’.

One day Beatrix received a call – there had been an incident at the house. Anastasia had been found ‘naked in the bedroom, bent over a bed, with three older boys ranging from 12 – 15 standing behind her’.

Staff told Beatrix ‘nothing happened, there’s no need to make a big deal about it’. But Beatrix took Anastasia to hospital and then to the police station where she made a statement. ‘Nothing was done,’ she said. ‘I never took her back to respite.’

Soon after, Beatrix was approached by a disability service provider who offered to take Anastasia as a client for three months. The provider implied Anastasia’s behavioural issues were due to poor parenting and they would help Beatrix with a parenting plan.

The provider proceeded to ‘consequence’ Anastasia. ‘They were using consequences to get rid of her disabilities,’ Beatrix explained. They told Anastasia she could only see her mother or speak to her if she behaved.

Sometimes Beatrix would ‘do drive-bys and show up at the house’ and find Anastasia sitting on the floor in the freezing cold in barely any clothing, while staff sat in the staffroom with heaters. Beatrix would wait with her and sometimes it could be up to an hour before staff noticed. The provider attempted to restrict Beatrix’s visits and she was told to phone before she dropped by.

During this time Anastasia’s behaviours escalated. By the end of three months Beatrix said the staff were begging her for help, saying, ‘How the hell have you done this on your own this whole time?’

The provider tried to find a place for Anastasia in a children’s mental health facility to no avail. So Anastasia, at 12, was placed in an adult mental health unit while doctors adjusted and changed her medication.

When she was discharged, the provider agreed to provide full-time care in a private rental, funded by the state government. Anastasia lived alone with a couple of support staff rostered to live with her.

Staff continued to try to ‘consequence’ Anastasia’s behaviours and told Beatrix to trust them.

Sometimes Anastasia would come home from school to find everything she owned had been removed from the house. ‘She would have nothing but a mattress on the floor and then she had to earn back all her stuff with her behaviours,’ Beatrix said. This would go on for 10 days. Anastasia would try really hard, but if she slipped up on the ninth day she’d be forced to start again.

Over the years this resulted in Anastasia smashing every gift or anything new she was given. She told Beatrix, ‘They can’t take it off me now.’

The provider complained repeatedly about the cost of caring for Anastasia and pressured Beatrix to consider a group home or cotenancy. But Beatrix refused because of Anastasia’s previous experiences.

Ultimately the state government took Beatrix to court for custody of Anastasia so they could place her in a group home. Beatrix said the judge was disgusted and said, ‘How dare you put this family through this because of the almighty dollar.’

When Anastasia turned 18 she was forced to have cotenants. One tried to stab her. One stole all her things, and another destroyed them. Anastasia began to self-harm. One time she cut every tendon in her finger with a butter knife. Beatrix pleaded with the provider ‘to stop this cotenancy, she’s going to end up dead’.

Finally Anastasia moved to her own unit and shared support workers with a tenant in another unit.

Soon after, she rang Beatrix and told her she had a boyfriend who had kissed her on the lips. Beatrix was alarmed and asked the support worker to ring her the next time the man showed up.

Two days later the support worker rang Beatrix and told her Anastasia was very upset because the man had ‘sexed her’. Anastasia told Beatrix ‘he had his pants down and he pulled my pants down and put his penis there’, pointing between her legs.

Beatrix took Anastasia to hospital where she underwent a rape kit exam. The hospital told Beatrix ‘definitely, yes’.

The man was charged by police but when the prosecutor explained Anastasia would need to be cross-examined at trial, Beatrix decided it would be too traumatic.

Beatrix said it has taken years of counselling for Anastasia to stop self-harming following this incident.

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