Abuse in Care: Disabled woman hosed down naked, others sterilised without consent
Tuesday, 12 July 2022
People with disabilities experience higher rates of violence than nondisabled people. Disabled people and their whānau are sharing stories of historical abuse at the Abuse in Care – Royal Commission of Inquiry Disability, Deaf and Mental Health institutional care. The hearing runs from July 11 to July 20.
Content warning: This story contains accounts of abuse which some readers may find distressing.
A naked woman was violently hosed down while staff watched on for their entertainment at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital, says former IHC social worker Allison Campbell.
“She was screaming and writhing around on the floor,” she told the Abuse in Care – Royal Commission of Inquiry Disability, Deaf and Mental Health institutional care hearing this week.
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After the incident at Lake Alice, Campbell made a complaint to her supervisor, but said none of her complaints were taken seriously.
Campbell is one 23 witnesses sharing statements at the hearing.
She also described how young women with learning disabilities in IHC care were forced to be sterilised via a contraceptive injection without their knowledge or consent so staff didn't have to 'deal with the girls' menstruations'.
She said around 30 girls and women would line up in the hallway with bare legs, holding their underwear. When Campbell asked what they were doing, the girls responded that they were just “waiting for the prick”.
Concerned that they didn’t know anything about the treatment, Campbell asked them if they knew what the “prick” was. Only one was aware of the treatment they were receiving.
Campbell took it upon herself to educate the girls and women about contraception. She said only four or five women continued to receive the injection after learning what it was and the consequences.
She also told the story of a 12-year-old girl, whose mother was told she had surgery to remove her appendix, but medical staff instead performed a hysterectomy on her.
Campbell became a social worker for IHC in 1980. She said her focus was always on supporting, enabling, and encouraging people with learning difficulties to fulfil their dreams and take their rightful place in society. But some staff didn’t like her approach.
“I developed a bit of a reputation at IHC and some of the staff did not like me because I always helped the residents to understand their rights and to stand up for themselves,” she said.
“One man told me that they had no problem with the residents until I came along and told them their rights.”
Part of her job was to check on patients in institutions to see if she could move them back home. The main institutions she visited were the Kimberley Centre in Levin, Lake Alice, and Porirua.
She managed to bring one person out of Tokanui Psychiatric Hospital near Te Awamutu. The woman was kept in a cage because staff said she bit people and was violent.
When the woman went home to Whanganui, she couldn’t walk because of all of the time she had spent in the cage. And in the years since, she has never bitten or displayed any violence.
Campbell also told stories of disabled people being physically abused and ridiculed by staff.
She remembers witnessing a Kimberley staff member hitting a male resident, but he didn’t even flinch which indicated to her that he was used to this happening.
Another resident with a learning disability at Kimberley, told Campbell that staff forced him to eat porridge mixed with soap powder.
“I think New Zealanders should be ashamed,” Campbell said. “We should be ashamed as a nation.”
She said her motivation for getting people out was because she believes no one should live in the conditions people did at those institutions.
“If animals had been treated that way, they would have been charged and nobody was charged for the things that happened to people in the institutions… and it was just mind-blowing.
“Every time I got a person out of one of these institutions it was a victory,” she said. “I loved seeing people blossom once they got out.”
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Despite the Kimberley Centre, the last institution of its kind in New Zealand, closing in 2006, Campbell said some people with disabilities are still living in places like that now.
“Some are becoming like mini institutions again,” she said. “Society in New Zealand must guard against that because it’s no place for any child or young person to be in a situation where they’re not treated as other people are treated.”
She said anybody who lives in care needs an advocate, but that might not necessarily come from a Government department.
“It needs to be an individual that really cares about that person,” she said.
In her time as an advocate, Campbell said she’s made a lot of friends and is very proud of the people that she’s worked with.
“I’ve had great gifts given to me by those people. They love, they’re generous, they’re kind,” she said. “They have gifts to give to everybody.”
The hearing continues.
Where to get help
1737, Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 to talk to a trained counsellor.
Mental Health Foundation 09 623 4812, click here to access its free resource and information service.
thelowdown.co.nz Web chat, email chat or free text 5626
If it is an emergency, click here to find the number for your local crisis assessment team.
In a life-threatening situation, call 111.