By Megan Oliver, with photography by Maren Preuss
- Posted on ABC online Monday 9 Jan 2023 at 5:10am, updated Mon 9 Jan 2023 at 11:33am
All I ever learned was that it was my fault. I had some dark fault inside me where I was always getting it wrong. – Deborah Hunter
Deborah Hunter always knew she was different from those around her — she communicated differently and struggled socially, but didn’t know why.
“I took it to be some kind of intrinsic naivety. I never seemed to get it right,” she said.
“Even when I tried to be a ‘good girl’ and behave as appropriate or expected, I was forever getting things wrong.”
The emotional and physical abuse started in Deborah’s family home, but she didn’t realise it was abuse.