By Ken Davis
You've seen the drama. Today Tonight
secretly films the woman with a back injury lifting groceries out of
the car. Outraged citizens stick abusive posters under the windshield
wipers of Disability Parking Permit holders who do not look disabled
enough. Doctors smirk behind the backs of people who are so impolite
as to not fit comfortably into a statistically defined diagnostic
box. We all make judgements on limited information. It's one of the
skills that allows us humans to do so well. Yet our judgements are
frequently wrong. This is particularly so in the realm of work
capacity – where wrong judgements can make the difference between a
meagre existence and downright poverty.
Newstart Allowance was originally
designed to be a SHORT TERM safety net for the newly unemployed while
they go about finding a new job.
It
is the lowest level of Income Support in the OECD and
well
below any Poverty Line. Disability Support Pension (like any
Pension) is designed to provide a meagre living for those unable to
work full-time. Like most benefits it is means tested and decreases
as someone earns income. Strangely, the Government sets the criteria
for eligibility at a work capacity of 15 hours per week, however,
once qualified, you can work up to 30 hours per week. I'll leave that
anomaly for another time.
The major anomaly is the
impairment
tables which have been redesigned to make it almost impossible
for some categories of applicant to attain 20 points of impairment,
even if it is clear their work capacity is 15 hours per week or
less. This is particularly the case for disabilities which are
dynamic. A blind person's blindness is (largely) fixed. It doesn't
matter what they do, their vision impairment remains the same. An
amputee's amputation does not change. Paralysis is static. However
much disability is more fluid. Conditions like chronic pain, Multiple
Sclerosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and mental health disorders are
less predictable.
The fact that somebody can do something
once, in an assessment (or on a hidden camera) tells little about the
total reality of that person's life. Yet assessors and bureaucrats
frequently make life altering judgements on the basis of one-off
observations. They ignore a holistic assessment of a person's
realistic work capacity. Worse still, the Social Security Act makes
no
allowance for job market conditions. If you can work 15 hours per
week in a mythical job, it doesn't matter that that job doesn't
actually exist. It doesn't matter that you have no hope of obtaining
it above the other 100 able bodied applicants who need no special
provisions. It doesn't matter that you would need to somehow move
across the country away from your established medical and social
supports. So even if you have this magical 15 hours per week of
“full-time” work capacity – you are condemned to a life of
Newstart poverty. Despite two Governments worth of disability bashing
brutality and “dignity of work” rhetoric – nothing has changed.
People with disabilities are still
no
more likely to obtain work, but far more likely to be living in
Poverty.
In my case, I have chronic fatigue
syndrome. It has been around for 20+ years and it's not getting any
better (although I manage it much better now). If you followed me
round with a camera (and edited the footage), or stalked my Facebook,
you would know that I go surfing, mow the lawn, and walk around the
shops in addition to my 15 (actually in reality its about 12) hours
per week of work. I would be the perfect Today Tonight Disability
Bludger Stooge (despite the fact I am actually working to my
capacity).
But what's the reality? My “Surfing”
is actually 15-60 minutes in the water, of which most is floating,
interspersed with short bursts of anaerobic activity (the most
suitable activity for many people with CFS). It's on a bodyboard in
small surf conditions of 1-3 foot. I'm not riding giants at Nazare! I
do it a few times a week (sometimes with long breaks between). I mow
the lawn in 3 lots of 5 minutes (with 15-30 minute rest breaks in
between). I shop, but it doesn't get put away until the next day. I
balance my activity carefully, but need a lot of rest to recover
between activities. A five hour work day leaves me exhausted and
frequently unable to manage any after work social or domestic
activities. My social, church and community activities are reduced by
50-75%. People (and spy cameras) only see me when I'm functioning.
Occasionally I have increased my work
hours, and when I do, my symptoms are much worse and every other
areas of life goes on the back burner. So I'm pretty confident this
12 or so hours per week is about as good as it gets. Now I could
possibly get a few more, provided someone mows my lawns, does my
shopping and I abandon a healthy lifestyle. I wonder if that is what
the Government wants.
People with Disabilities are entitled
to leisure and exercise as well as work. They are entitled to expend
some of their limited capacity on self-care, which includes lifting
groceries (even if you have a dodgy back). It includes walking the
dog, going for a swim, doing the shopping – even if the exercise of
those rights reduces the capacity available for paid employment.
However these rights are currently under assault, even for the
able-bodied – all in the name of productivity.
Even so, the reality of one hour of
shopping is vastly different to 15 hours of work. While shopping you
can sit and take a break. You can vary your posture. Just because you
can do it for one hour doesn't mean you can do it for 15. If you put
a litre of fuel in your car, you can drive quite happily for 10-20
km. The fact you can drive that distance in no way means you can
drive 30km on one litre. You will stop and you will need to refuel.
The problem for many people with disabilities is that they need to
stop to refuel more often. They get less mileage per tank. It takes
them longer to refill the tank. It is natural, logical and human to
make the assumption that all is well because you can see the car
driving – even if it wobbles a little. It is also dangerously
WRONG.
Assessors and bureaucrats frequently
make false assumptions about realistic work capacity and in doing so
cause great harm to people with dynamic and invisible disabilities.
Sadly what I have seen happen in my work as a mental health
counsellor is that the Newstart Disabled develop depression, anxiety
or PTSD due to their interactions with an abusive system. Then after
several years of worsening disability they do qualify. The other
thing I have seen is that if you take the pressure off people so they
no longer have to “fight the system” - many of them begin to
recover. They ask, “What now” - and in doing so, voluntarily
choose a suitable level of re-engagement with the community,
sometimes even paid employment.
A much better way would be to remove
the perverse incentive to prove incapacity. Grant decent income
support to all people who are not working provided they are taking
reasonable action to improve their circumstances, within their
realistically assessed capacity. Reasonable action may include study,
engaging in treatment, community work, volunteering, writing a blog
or job-seeking. However, if you want more people with disabilities to
work, it will require a much more proactive approach than anything
tried so far. The “free market” does not value people with
disabilities because they are viewed as less efficient (i.e. it takes
a bit of time, effort, creativity and sometimes money to fit them
into your business model). I've talked about that
here.
Now, just in case you have a disability
and want to work I've included a few tips. But don't forget the
standard advice –
never
lie in a job application:
How not to get a job with a Disability
“Oh, by the way, my work
capacity is 15 hours per week and I need to take a 15 minute break
every hour. Is that a problem?”
Tell the truth in an interview or
application form that asks, “Do you have any medical conditions
that MAY affect your ability to perform this job?”
“Do you have somewhere quiet
where I can lay down if I need to?”
“Emotional dysregulation is part
of my medical condition – I can usually manage it OK, but
sometimes I need to take time out to avoid losing my cool. Is that a
problem?”
“No, I can't work
Tuesday-Thursday. Is Monday, Wednesday, Friday OK?”
Here's to the dignity of work!
