The inspection went ahead at 10am on the dot. 
For my part I had hired a very efficient security guard and also a professional carer as a witness. The tiny apartment had six surveillance cameras including the hand held and tripod models. Everything inside the apartment was covered in great rolls of thick black plastic. With my two supporters there was barely room to stand among the mounds of covered furniture and equipment
We were swapping stories in the kitchen when the inspectors arrived. They bought two police and three supporters. I had already informed my own group that the police had turned up instead of inspectors a number of times and I suspected they were trying to get a record of police visits so they could make the claim that I was a bad or dangerous tenant. From the look on their faces I suspect that the professional nature of my witnesses balanced their own and would counteract any attempt to use this visit on that list.
My own witnesses had been a little unsure of my mental stability but I didnt see any doubt in their eyes after the visit. This visit combined with the flurry of paperwork and the other attempted visits seemed strange to everyone. I am glad because I struggle with the feeling that I am paranoid, or I do right up until the next nasty little event when I can be caught out if I am not watching. The feedback from other professionals after talking to my group was very supportive with quite a number wondering why someone as ill and damaged as me was being given so much attention. They also wondered why Family and Community Services cannot send the NDIS providers to do the inspection so I didnt have strangers judging my life and causing me anxiety and even grief. That was a big deal for me. Up until this point I was very much alone and struggling to get anyone to understand what was happening and why it was so upsetting to me.
FaCS doesn’t look like adjusting their policy yet so I will have to lobby but considering how many people are damaged emotionally this policy of having staffers crash into their homes every few months is nasty. From the comments by the inspector I am certain she has not a clue about the harm it does.
She stands there, flanked by Police and after demanding access, aware that she has the power to make me homeless, after asking what I did with this room and making comments that she was unhappy with the cluttered nature of the apartment. She stands there, a total stranger flanked by six total strangers who have forced their way into my home supported by executive might rather than right. She stands there at the apex of weeks of anxiety. She says. “That is all it is. That is not so hard is it!”” My mouth, despite my best efforts, falls open in disbelief. I look at the surveillance cameras, the security guard, the professional witness. I look at the plastic covering everything trying to protect some vestige of privacy. I smile at the police who are trying not to catch my eye and look at her supporters who are stony-faced. I cannot believe that this person cannot see the evidence of terrible anxiety in the effort put into those protective devices
I resist the urge to say what I am thinking which is along the lines of . “Are you freaking’ stupid?” My heart sinks. She has power over lives.
The key to discovering how serious she thinks it is might be for her to give me her address so I can bring six total strangers and wander through her house. Not one day or once but four times a year on that one reason with the options for many more visits a. Send some police to her door several times in a few months. Send a contractor to demand entry several times in the same few months. Send endless reams of demands for information that will have her made homeless if she finds herself too ill or busy or offended to fill them out. I will ask. I am sure that if its not a big deal she will be happy for me to have her address. After all she didn’t have her girlfriend raped in a home invasion or get beaten up or have people breaking in on a regular basis like I did back then. She should be happy to have me checking her stuff out!
A great deal more to get through but getting this together has exhausted me and my head is swimming. I hope you are all well