Skip to main content

Together Project

This blog post is the third in the series inspired by my reflections on the abuse and neglect suffered by people with disabilities. The Together Project is an art collaboration designed to create a safe place for people to discuss their experiences.

For me watching people's creations has made me reflect on my own life experiences.

I know statistically between 85 to 90 % of people with disabilities may experience some form of abuse in their lifetime.

Until recently I would have said that I do not fit into that category but I am speaking up in this blog to demonstrate that abuse can be severe or subtle.

Please read my poem 'Lock Box' to discover my true experience.

For anyone that is interested in getting involved the exhibition will have a space at the 'Having A Say' Conference 2019 because together we can find a way.


Lock Box

A moment in fear all I hear is the ticking of the clocks. 
I have an unhealthy obsession with security; I hide everything in the Lock Box. 
Someone asked me have I ever been abused and I said don't be ridiculous, I am too strong. 
When I look back on it however, I think I might have been wrong. 

I feel safe and protected with my family. But when I venture out, I am surrounded by insecurity. 
I remember at the so called "special school" where I was intimidated and made to feel like a fool. 
Taking my wheelchair out of gear is an act of false imprisonment. 
How many other rules have been bent?

I have done you no harm, then why have your fingers left bruises on my arm?
Punishing me is against the law but I can't say anything until the perpetrator walks out the door.
I feel no respite when I am alone at night. If I say something is wrong, will you make me wait long?
I have many surgical scars but the mental abuse is what leaves the deepest scars. 

Join us together in the Together Project and help me banish my fears and those ticking clocks
So there's no more need for my Lock Box. 

Chris Van Ingen 18/12/18



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Defend Our NDIS

 Defend our NDIS; people have had enough of cuts and changes to the NDIS. The Every Australian Counts campaign has organised a national day of action and events across Australia to take place on 28th of April.  I have been involved in the NDIS from the initial trial phase through to today. People may remember that I was involved in an advertising campaign spruiking the benefits to come once the scheme was up and running.  ‘You’re in charge! Yes we are, aren’t we!’ For awhile this was the truth for participants like myself. I have been very lucky and received 90 percent of what I need from NDIS.  The question is would I have received the same benefits if I was not a skilled disability advocate?  People with disabilities want the original version of the scheme that was promised without having to fight for a reasonable request. It would be a more efficient scheme if the government put the millions of dollars in legal fees into service delivery instead.  According to the Australian Service
3 comments
Read more

A Vision for an Inclusive Australia (DRC Final Report)

 The final revised version of the Disability Royal Commission (DRC) into violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation was published on 2 November 2023.  The Royal Commission ran for four years with hundreds of people with disabilities testifying at hearings and thousands more supplying the Commission with written submissions.  The final report titled Our Vision for An Inclusive Australia  made 222 recommendations to improve laws, policies, structures, and practices to ensure a more inclusive and just society. That supports the independence of people with disabilities and their right to live a life free from violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation.  The report covers 12 volumes ranging from:  Voices of People with Disability  About the Royal Commission Nature and Extent of Violence, Abuse, and Exploitation Realising the Human Rights of People with Disability  Governing for Inclusion Inclusive Education, Employment, and Housing Enabling Autonomy and Access Criminal Justice and People wi
Post a Comment
Read more

Throw Out The Label Maker

Through a lot of self-refection over the last few weeks I’ve come to believe it’s time to throw out the label maker before all the labels cover up our humanity. I use to think labels were cool, signs of what we’re meant to be, until those words turned to weapons pointed at me. Spastic, special disabled even retard these are the labels that at one time or another made my life hell. Cousin, aunty uncle, mother, father; where I come in the family tree the energy I share with the world  is unique and impossible for a label to  define. Chink , abo, wog and rag head; I don’t know why we can’t just see each other as people? Gorgeous, sexy, ugly, disgusting, fat and skinny but I want to know why I’ve never seen a picture of a guy or girl in a wheelchair with the caption Heartthrob. We need to recognise all beauty. Success, failure, dumb or genius, normal to eccentric these days all labels do is turn society into us and them. Christian, Muslim, Buddhist are all labels
2 comments
Read more