Death of Ann Marie Smith highlights worrying rise in complaints about abuse of people with disabilities in South Australia
Disability abuse and neglect complaints are rising in SA as the state comes to learn more of the “disgusting and degrading” death of Adelaide woman Ann Marie Smith. Calls are now being made for us to be more vigilant.
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There has been a “most disturbing increase” in the number of disability-related reports of abuse, neglect, and violence in South Australia, latest figures show.
Disability Advocacy and Complaints Service of South Australia data obtained by the Sunday Mail shows a 40 per cent rise in abuse and violence complaints from 2018 to 2019.
There was also a huge spike in disability carer complaints during the same period.
It comes as a state inquiry into the “disgusting and degrading” death of Adelaide woman Ann Marie Smith begins on Wednesday.
Some of the state’s leading disability advocates say now is the time for legislative reform for appropriate safeguards – and for South Australians to become more vigilant about abuse and report it to authorities.
Ms Smith, 54, died from profound septic shock and multiple organ failure on April 5. She spent more than a year immobilised by cerebral palsy in a woven cane chair in the loungeroom of her Kensington Park home.
Her case has stunned the community, from her quiet neighbourhood to the health minister in Canberra.
In the Disability Advocacy and Complaints Service of SA annual report, chief executive Kendall Field said: “Unfortunately, we have seen increased demand in the areas of discrimination/rights, education, health/mental health and housing/homelessness.
“Most disturbing is the increased number of sessions delivered relating to abuse, neglect and violence.”
Last year, 60 of DACSSA’s consultations involved complaints of abuse, neglect and violence – up 40 per cent from the previous year.
There were 28 DACSSA sessions involving disability services complaints – mostly against providers, in 2018, jumping to 464 in 2019. That’s when the bulk of South Australians had been transferred from state-funded services to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
It was under the NDIS, that Ms Smith – whose parents were deceased – was entirely reliant on six hours of care each day from service provider Integrity Care SA.
Integrity Care SA has since sacked Ms Smith’s carer and been fined by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission for failing to report her death.
A police investigation has been launched, and a state government taskforce set up to identify gaps in the state’s disability sector.
Taskforce co-chair Dr David Caudrey said safeguarding against abuse and neglect was first and foremost the responsibility of service providers and the NDIS, but it should also be a community-wide concern.
DACSSA acting program manager Maggie Rutjens told the Sunday Mail it was not the responsibility of a person with disability to safeguard themselves from abuse and neglect perpetrated by support workers.
She said regulatory safeguards were needed, as was auditing of service providers, but the community needed “to hold ourselves … accountable for the care provided to our citizens with disability”.
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights vice-president and chair Natalie Wade said the community had an “imperative role” to uphold the rights of people living with disabilities, especially those like Ms Smith who could not report themselves.
To report abuse, contact DACSSA on 7122 6030 or dacssa.org.au; the NDIS Commission on 1800 035 544 or ndiscommission.gov.au or Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner SA on 8226 8666 or ndiscommission.gov.au
