Staff disrespectful to man with psychological disability easy read

Elias’ story

Easy Read version

Easy Read icon.

Who is Elias?

A man frowning and an icon of a brain and an exclamation mark.

Elias has a disability that affects his brain.

A man looking upset and a brain icon with a plus sign in it.

Elias also has a psychosocial disability.

A psychosocial disability affects your mental health.

An icon of a person with a question mark. There is a name badge with a cross on it.

We call him ‘Elias’ because he didn’t want us to use his real name.

A man talking on the phone and a thought bubble. In the thought bubble is a sad face and a calendar icon with an arrow curving to the right.

Elias’ psychosocial disability makes him worry about things that may or may not happen.

A man looking upset and a thought bubble with a question mark in it.

Elias also has trouble controlling how he thinks.

What happened to Elias?

A man holding a clipboard with a service icon on it and giving a thumbs down. Above him is the government icon.

Elias experienced disability discriminationwhen he used a government service.

Disability discrimination is when you’re treated badly because:

A man in a wheelchair outside a building.

  • you have a disability

A man and a woman with a thought bubble that has a disability icon in it. There is another person in front of them who looks sad.

  • people think you have a disability

A person with a hand on their chest and the disability icon. There is a stack of calendar icons with an arrow curving to the left.
  • you used to have a disability

A person raising their hand and the disability icon. There is a stack of calendar icons with an arrow curving to the right.
  • you might have a disability in the future

Two people shaking hands.

  • you know a person with disability.

A man giving two thumbs down.

Elias wasn’t treated with respect when he talked

to the government service.

A woman talking on the phone and an arrow curving up to a circle with a man in it, who has his arms crossed. There is a cross on the circle.

The government service stopped contacting him.

A woman scratching her head thinking.

They thought Elias was too hard to deal with.

What did Elias do?

The Anti-Discrimination New South Wales icon.

Elias contacted Anti-Discrimination NSW (ADNSW).

A man holding his hand out to stop something and a map of NSW. On the map, there are two people with a cross next to them and another person who looks sad.

ADNSW is an organisation that helps stop discrimination in NSW.

A group of people pointing and talking about a woman in a wheelchair.

Discrimination is when you treat someone badly because of something about them they can’t change.

A man raising his hand to say something and a complaint form with a sad face on it.

Elias made a complaint to ADNSW about what happened to him.

Montage of two images. The first is a man with his arms crossed looking upset and the second is a man giving a thumbs down.

When you make a complaint, you tell someone that something:

  • has gone wrong
  • isn’t working well.

A man pointing at a group of people with a megaphone icon above them.

Elias found an advocacy organisation to help him.

Montage of two images. The first is a man raising his hand to say something and the second is a man showing another man information.

Advocacy organisations are groups that speak up for people with disability.

They can:

  • help you have your say
  • give you information and advice.

A group of people reading a document together.

Elias talked about the problems he had with the government service.

A man talking on the phone and a speech bubble with a woman pointing at herself and the government icon.

Elias said he called the government service more because they weren’t contacting him.

When Elias spoke to the government service:

A man talking on the phone looking angry.
  • he sounded frustrated

A man holding his head looking sad.

  • his mental health got worse.

ADNSW decided to have a meeting with:

A man pointing at himself and raising his other hand.

  • Elias

A woman pointing at himself and raising his other hand.

  • a person from the advocacy organisation who was helping Elias

A woman pointing at himself and raising his other hand.

  • the government service.

In the meeting, Elias and a person from the advocacy organisation:

A group of people standing together and reading a document. There is a speech bubble above the people with a man giving a thumbs down in it.

  • talked about how Elias felt

A group of people standing around a table together. There are two speech bubbles, one has a man raising his hand in it and the other has the government services icon.

  • came up with different ways to help make the government service better for Elias.

What will happen next?

A man talking on the phone and a speech bubble with a woman pointing at herself and the government icon.

Everyone in the meeting talked about the barriers Elias faced when he contacted the government service.

A man raising his hand behind a barrier.

A barrier is something that stops you from doing something you:

  • need to do
  • want to do.

These barriers:

A man with his hands on his head looking very distressed.

  • affected Elias’ mental health in a bad way

A man looking angry and a thought bubble with a fist icon in it.

  • put Elias at risk of hurting himself.

A plan will be made between:

A man standing and frowning.

  • Elias

A woman holding a clipboard with a service icon on it. The government icon is above her.

  • the government service.

A man giving a thumbs up and a plan icon with a tick on it.

This plan will talk about what the government service will do to make contacting Elias better.

A woman writing on a clipboard and a plan icon with a tick on it.

The government service will also plan what they can do now to make their services better.

Word list

This list explains what the bold words in this document mean.

Montage of two images. The first is a man raising his hand to say something and the second is a man showing another man information.

Advocacy organisation

Advocacy organisations are groups that speak up for people with disability. They can:

  • help you have your say
  • give you information and advice.

The Anti-Discrimination New South Wales icon.

Anti-Discrimination NSW (ADNSW)

ADNSW is an organisation that helps stop discrimination in NSW.

A man raising his hand behind a barrier.

Barriers

A barrier is something that stops you from doing something you:

  • need to do
  • want to do.

Montage of two images. The first is a man with his arms crossed looking upset and the second is a man giving a thumbs down.

Complaint

When you make a complaint, you tell someone that something:

  • has gone wrong
  • isn’t working well.

Montage of five images. The first is a man in a wheelchair outside a building, the second is s man and a woman with a thought bubble that has a disability icon in it and another person in front of them who looks sad, the third is a person with a hand on their chest and the disability icon, and a stack of calendar icons with an arrow curving to the left, the fourth is a person raising their hand and the disability icon, and a stack of calendar icons with an arrow curving to the right, the fifth is two people shaking hands.

Disability discrimination

Disability discrimination is when you’re treated badly because:

  • you have a disability
  • people think you have a disability
  • you used to have a disability
  • you might have a disability in the future
  • you know a person with disability.

A group of people pointing and talking about a woman in a wheelchair.

Discrimination

Discrimination is when you treat someone badly because of something about them they can’t change.

A man looking upset and a brain icon with a plus sign in it.

Psychosocial disability

A psychosocial disability affects your me

Images used in this Easy Read document are subject to copyright and must not be reused without explicit approval. For more information, please visit www.dcj.nsw.gov.au/copyright-and-disclaimer.

Last updated:

13 Dec 2021

Was this content useful?
We will use your rating to help improve the site.
Please don't include personal or financial information here
Please don't include personal or financial information here

We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the First Nations Peoples of NSW and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the ongoing connection Aboriginal people have to this land and recognise Aboriginal people as the original custodians of this land.

Top Return to top of page Top