Chapter 13 — Special needs schools and residential services

Witnesses

The length of time witnesses reported spending in school and residential services varied. On the basis of information provided this variation could be understood to have been influenced by the witnesses’ age when first admitted, the different reasons for their admission and their family circumstances. The average length of stay in residential care reported by the witnesses from special needs schools and services was 11 years. It is important to note that not all of the time indicated was spent in special needs facilities, it also included time spent in mother and baby homes, children’s homes and other residential services.

While more than half of the witnesses were admitted to the schools and residential services from their family homes, and had living relatives, they reported having spent most of their childhoods in institutions. The majority of specialist facilities and treatment services were centrally located during the period covered by this Report. At the time it was common for both children and adults from rural and provincial areas to travel long distances for specialist treatment. Care and residential services were, consequently, a practical necessity. As the following table shows, almost half of the witnesses reported being over 18 years of age when they were discharged from those residential facilities:

Age when discharged	Males	Females	Total witnesses
<15 years	8	1	9
16 years	6	2	8
17 years	6	7	13
18+ years	19	9	28
Total	39	19	58

Twenty five (25) of the 28 witnesses who reported being discharged when they were over 18 years of age also reported having remained in supported accommodation placements for most of their adult lives. In many instances these accommodation facilities were provided by the same organisations who managed the special needs services where the witnesses had been admitted as children. The accounts of abuse included in this report occurred when the witness was under 18 years of age, in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

The nature and extent of abuse reported by witnesses varied, and reports included descriptions of single incidents of abuse and accounts of multiple experiences of being abused over long periods of time.

Most of the facilities were the subject of more than one witness report: Nine (9) special needs facilities were each the subject of 4–12 reports, totalling 54 reports. Five (5) facilities were each the subject of a single report.

Forty one (41) witnesses reported abuse over a 35-year period prior to 1970 and the remaining 17 witnesses gave evidence in relation to their admissions throughout the 1970s, 1980s and the early 1990s.

Witnesses reported the four abuse types as defined by the Acts4: physical and sexual abuse, neglect and emotional abuse. Abuse reports included single incidents of abuse and combinations of abuse as follows: Forty eight (48) witnesses reported physical abuse. Thirty six (36) witnesses reported sexual abuse. Twenty five (25) witnesses reported neglect. Twenty four (24) witnesses reported emotional abuse.

Combinations of the four abuse types were reported in the order of frequency shown below:

Abuse types and combinations	Number of reports
Physical and sexual	13
Physical, neglect and emotional	11
Physical, sexual, neglect and emotional	9
Physical	9
Sexual	9
Physical, sexual and neglect	2
Physical, sexual and emotional	2
Physical and neglect	1
Physical and emotional	1
Sexual and neglect	1
Neglect and emotional	1
Total	59

As shown, the most frequently reported abuse combination was physical and sexual abuse, of which there were 13 reports. There were a further nine reports of physical and sexual abuse combined with emotional abuse and neglect. In all, 26 witnesses reported being both physically and sexually abused in facilities for children with special needs.

Physical abuse

The wilful, reckless or negligent infliction of physical injury on, or failure to prevent such injury to, the child.5 This section describes reports of physical abuse, non-accidental injury and lack of protection from such abuse given in evidence by witnesses to the Committee. The forms of physical abuse reported included hitting, punching, kicking, beating, bodily assault with implements, and immersion in water. The Committee heard accounts of assaults that were so severe that injuries were caused which required medical intervention.

There were 48 reports of physical abuse from 32 male and 16 female witnesses in relation to 13 of the 14 special needs schools and facilities reported in this category. Twenty eight (28) reports related to experiences in schools and facilities for children with intellectual disabilities. Nine (9) facilities were the subject of between two and 10 reports, totalling 43 reports. Five (5) facilities were each the subject of single reports.

Witnesses reported that while attending special needs services they were physically abused and assaulted by various means including being hit with leather straps, canes, spade and broom handles, various types of sticks and brushes, kitchen implements, wooden coat hangers and rulers. They also reported having their heads held under water, being put into cold baths, having their hair cut and pulled, being forcibly fed, and being locked in outhouses, sheds and isolated rooms. Witnesses with sensory impairments described the particular fear and trauma associated with being physically abused when they could not see or hear abusers approaching them.

Other forms of physical abuse and assault reported by witnesses included being punched and kicked, pinched, slapped across the face and ears, held by the throat, lifted by the hair and ears, and having their left hands or both hands tied behind their back to prevent use. There was a whole load of them... (religious and lay staff)... who’d slap me across the face or with the strap on my legs .... I didn’t feel I was a trouble maker but I was active, they just picked on me ... they just kept slapping me the whole time and they all said I was a trouble maker, they gave me a bad name.

Witnesses reported being severely physically punished for certain behaviours, in response to particular occurrences and frequently for no reason that they could understand. Among the events reported to have been so punished were: running away, bed-wetting, talking to co-residents, not completing chores, disclosing abuse, being forced by violence to carry out sexual acts, taking food, making mistakes in the classrooms or workshops, using sign language, not using disability aids properly, losing or damaging disability aids, wear and tear on clothing, walking out of line, having soiled sheets or underwear, and being out of bed. Several witnesses reported that using sign language and writing with their left hand was forbidden. The first time I was hit, a crowd of us used to queue to get our hair combed. The Brother in charge ...(named religious) ... said to me “you are going without getting your hair combed”. I wasn’t, he beat me then.... He put me over his knees and hit me with his hands, I was totally puzzled, I couldn’t figure out why I was hit. I hadn’t done anything wrong, I hadn’t been hit at home even though I had done things wrong.... That was the first of many times being hit ... It was Br ...X.... He invented excuses for hitting fellas, such as he invented this thing that ...younger co-residents... could not talk to ...older residents.... He’d beat you for a lot of things with the leather, your trousers would be down, it ... (the beating)... could be over the stool or over his bed. One of the things was I got beaten for putting polish on my socks, you’d get beaten if you didn’t have Rosary beads with you, they used have Rosary every night. If a fella had a hole in his jumper, if it turned into a hole before I realised it, I would be beaten. • Br ...X... would bring the bed-wetters into his room and flog them. He’d make them have a cold bath whether it was winter or summer and you could hear the screams, the screams, he was very violent. He was a big strong fit man, I was petrified of him, it came back to me in dreams, the dreams of it returned. • There is the whole issue of... (mannerisms)..., people have sort of mannerisms maybe, shaking backwards and forwards, you’d be beaten for that. • We were punished for signing. ... It was very, very difficult to control. ... It was our language, it was the way we communicated. It was natural for us to use gestures, we were deaf.

The random nature of some beatings was described by witnesses. One said he was severely beaten after the residence he occupied was accidentally flooded. He was not there when the accident happened, but was blamed nevertheless. Another witness described how a particular staff member would: ‘beat you wherever he could get you, I got used to being beaten up, I didn’t care’. Others commented that they did not know why they were being beaten as nobody explained anything to them. They accepted physical abuse as part of life in the institution.