VIC Severe Emotional Distress Caused by Staff at University - Claim Compensation?

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lessie

Well-Known Member
11 April 2016
14
0
71
Hello,

I am a student at a private university and I've been treated unfairly by the staff. I've disclosed my disability to the staff and am on a support plan.

Sometime in 2014, I spoke to a counsellor about some teachers who I got along with and seemed to be interested in me who started acting weirdly. I asked if they could return their behaviour to normal. I was then told I was imagining things and then was accused of threatening teachers and making them uncomfortable, and was threatened I would be excluded from the school if I contacted the teachers. I became paranoid, my disability exacerbated and I had to quit the course because of this.

Then I returned in 2015 and I was given rules by means of a support plan, which stated that I can only contact very specific teachers, banned from certain places and am not allowed to contact the teachers who I felt were interested in me. I saw a counsellor and was continuously told how I cannot have "social conversations" with staff members. I also lost the person who I felt safe with because of their arguments. This triggered my disability to exacerbate again and I was suspended for a comment containing the word suicide.

I then asked my psychologist to provide documents to the college and got the suspension lifted, but I was not able to enrol for study because of the misleading information that was given. Then the staff attempted to remove me from the campus whenever I attempted to visit for admin/club activities.

I finally made a formal complaint about the whole issue and there was a reasonable manager who resolved it, but the staff seemed reluctant to follow his instructions. Recently he left and the staff started treating me unfairly again. I complained about one of the staff to the school counsellor and she breached my privacy and caused a few staff to hate me. I then made another formal complaint out of frustration about a staff that I regret. He was the person who did the banning from teachers because I got along with them, and now I notice he is having a relationship with a student!

Now I have no one to go to and I feel so distressed by all of these events throughout these 2 years, spent many days crying and worrying.

Does anyone have any suggestion on what I can do? I was wondering if there is any possibility I could make a claim for some compensation. I am aware I need more support than normal students because of a disability but I don't feel the way they treated me was reasonable either. As a matter of fact, I've been successful in all other Universities I've attended and was successful at this school until the incident in 2014 occurred.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 

lessie

Well-Known Member
11 April 2016
14
0
71
Hello, I feel that I have been discriminated against, isolated and bullied because of a disability at a University and there is 1 main person responsible for it. This has caused a lot of damage to my life for the past 2 years. It cost me nearly $3000 for only psychologist fees, not to mentioned the time I've lost when feeling sick and depressed. I was wondering if anyone knows if I can direct a discrimination complaint directly at that person or do I need to sue the whole Uni?

I tried to confront the person responsible personally and through a formal complaint but there were no results. He even disappeared from the campus since the complaint was submitted. The Uni tried to remedy the issues by arranging a counsellor for me while denying the issues. I am not happy with the response and would like to take the issues further (hoping proper compensation).

Or is there any other way to deal with the situation?

Thanks in advance for any help!
 

Lance

Well-Known Member
31 October 2015
852
123
2,394
Hi Lessie,

It sounds like a lot of what you have discussed could be described as your word against theirs. If you have followed the universities grievance process to no avail there should be an escalation process. The reason I say this is because without documenting the steps taken and ensuring you have copies of all submitted documents it would be difficult to establish an action for discrimination or any other action for that matter.

If it went to court it seems like for every statement you make they would have half a dozen staff to argue against it. If you check the universities website they should detail their grievance and escalation process'.

Please let me know how you go.