the main reason it's so hard to get on the Disability Support Pension in Australia is that your condition must be "fully diagnosed, treated, and stabilised". which means if you can't get treatment, you can't get income support either
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/disability-support-pension/who-can-get-it/medical-rules/general-medical-rules/fully-diagnosed-treated-and-stabilised

it is absolutely incredible what centrelink is actually willing to admit to

the example Centrelink gives for a "not fully diagnosed" condition (ineligible for DSP) is "when you cbf going to the specialist" but it also applies to *anyone* whose diagnosis is not clear. which is basically all disabled women for years, possibly forever

there used to be a thing called Sickness Allowance for medical conditions where you couldn't work but didn't qualify for DSP. that was abolished march 2020, but effectively abolished well before then https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/sickness-allowance

these days, if you're disabled but not eligible for DSP – most disabled people – you have to be studying or "looking for work". it is almost impossible to get exempted from these requirements for more than a few months at a time https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/subjects/disabled-ill-or-injured-and-looking-work

i have heaps of HECS debt from enrolling in a course I knew I probably couldn't do; it was a better option than going on a jobseeker payment. turns out it is easier to stay in a course where you keep failing every subject than it is to stay on the dole if you're disabled

Academic Progress Committees are like once, twice a year. Job Prospects is every goddamn month and they have posters that say stuff like WORK FREES US FROM THREE GREAT EVILS: POVERTY, IDLENESS, AND VICE

this is an actual poster my JSP used to have up

post-Covid, there are going to be a lot more people with poorly understood disabilities and an unclear prognosis. they're not going to get anything from the Australian government, not jack shit. they need to get it from us

can't have a stable condition for 2+ years if you're gonna be dead! https://twitter.com/ni_ruh/status/1289475983393792006

whatever safety net you assume is in place for disabled people is not there! in the rare instance someone is able to get on DSP, their disability is usually so incapacitating and so expensive that the DSP is utterly inadequate

it's v distressing for me to hear about people like me being treated with unstinting sadism until they die so I am gonna have to mute this thread, but please continue talking about it