Denied disability

But how disabled do you have to be - in order to qualify and who decides? The Feed meets a woman who is fighting to have her disability recognised.

Source: The Feed

Here is the response from the Department of Social Services:

Eligibility and Prue McCarthy

• The Disability Support Pension (DSP) is a payment for people who are unable to support themselves through paid work because of the impairment caused by their disability or health condition.
• The Department of Human Services assesses claims for the DSP in accordance with criteria set down in legislation.
• To be eligible for DSP a person must be aged between 16 years of age and Age Pension age, and either be permanently blind, or:
  • be assessed as having a physical, intellectual, or psychiatric impairment; and
  • be unable to work, or to be retrained for work, for 15 hours or more per week at or above the relevant minimum wage within the next two years because of the impairment; and
  • be assessed as having a severe impairment or as having actively participated in a Program of Support.

DSP recipients are also subject to income and assets testing.

• Further details of eligibility requirements are available on the DHS website.
• The Department of Social Services and the Department of Human Services DSS are unable to look into the specific details of Prue McCarthy’s case due to privacy restrictions.
• However, based on the information in the article titled, ‘Prue's catch 22’, it appears Ms McCarthy gave up the Disability Support Pension to go onto Carer Payment.

Reduction in the number of people on DSP

• The number of people on the DSP has decreased as a result of measures put in place to make sure only those people with genuine need are able to access the DSP.
• We want to target DSP spending at the people who need it the most – those who have no ability to support themselves.
• The Government has been reviewing DSP recipients aged under 35 to see how many in this group have some capacity to work even if that capacity is for a limited number of hours in a fortnight. This process has involved a comprehensive review of the medical circumstances of the recipient’s qualification for the DSP and a parallel assessment of their work capacity given the relevant medical condition.
• The Government has also introduced Disability Medical Assessments to ensure that new claimants have an independent medical assessment of their capacity to work.
• The decrease in the number of people on DSP makes Australia’s welfare system more sustainable into the future. It also means more people are accessing pathways to study and work instead of getting stuck on welfare. 

You can view Prue's Facebook page here.

Should you wish to contact the appropriate minister, Christian Porter, his handle is @cporterwa.