I’ve known for a long time how cold and uncaring Australia’s welfare system is, especially Centrelink, but I don’t think it really clicked until today.

Im on the disability support pension meaning the government acknowledges I can not work full time. A few years ago, I messed up on some forms and never declared to them that my partner and I were in a relationship. I had meant to, but had a moment and forgot to hand them in. By the time I realised my mistake it was years later. Just before Christmas I went in to fix it and to get help with the forms because I always panic when I do Centrelink forms, I always miss something or misunderstand, I always do something wrong, so this time I went in for help with it. My partner and my support worker came with me to help make sure I was understanding everything, and to make sure I remember what they told me, because I tend to forget more when stressed.

Because my partner is an immigrant and self employed but not earning much, the process actually ended up being a bit more complicated so we’ve had to go in to do the forms over multiple appointments with the last one being last Thursday.

I was informed that because I didn’t declare the relationship right away, I’ve been overpaid and I’ll have to give that overpay amount back because, fun fact, just being in a relationship is enough for them to cut your payments here - not being married, just in a relationship. I knew that though and was prepared for it. At the last appointment I was finally given an estimate of how much I need to pay back.

It’s over $20,000.

I’m not entirely sure how they got that number, I’m going to ask for a break down of it once the amount is confirmed, but you want to know what sucks? I was relieved to hear that amount. I was mentally prepared for it to be double or triple that, and it would have been if the worker at the office didn’t pull me up and inform me I’d misunderstood some of the questions (so yeah, going in for help was a good call). Thankfully, because the disability support pension is already below the poverty line even before the cuts they made, I don’t have to pay it back at once, they’ll take a percentage of my pension out every fortnight to pay it back. Unfortunately, because I’m already below the poverty line, reducing my pension even further means I can’t afford rent anymore, even in a place that is already way, WAY below the current rental market value, so I can’t really afford rent…anywhere. Not even in remote and regional areas (I checked). Not a single private rental in the country is low enough for us to afford now. The only ones that were close weren’t wheelchair accessible. The pension will also go down if my partner earns anything, and it limits his hours (though I don’t know how that’s supposed to work if he’s self employed since pay isn’t really based on hours like typical jobs, I’m going to ask about that at the next appointment). Thankfully we had already planned for that and we’re planning to move in with my mum, but that means basically being cut off from the internet since her place is very rural and signal doesn’t really reach their place consistently.

But the shittyness doesn’t end there, oh no.

Today, I woke up to the dreaded “you have a myGov message” text. Only to open it and for them to tell me that they’re cutting my whole disability pension, it was just canceled. No ifs or buts, it was just gone. A few days before rent and all my bills are due. What was the reason you ask? Because one of the fields (asking for my partner’s tax info) on the form wasn’t filled out… the form I got the Centrelink office to check over before handing it in, that was definitely filled in. I know it was. There wasn’t even any “we’re missing information, you have x amount of time to fix this or your payment will be cancelled” warning, it was just, you didn’t fill out this one field that could be easily fixed so your pension is canceled, and you have to pay us that $20,000 out of pocket now, bye!

Obviously rattled and confused, I went back to the office (which is only a few minutes from where I live) and asked what the hell happened, the lady who helped us last time even vouched for us and said she knows we filled that out and gave it to them, she was there, only for them to go into my file and realise the way the file had been scanned cut off part of the field, so the automated systems didn’t see it and auto-cancelled my whole pension over it. So we had to wait an additional half and hour for the office staff to argue with whoever was in charge of that decision, to let them fix it because as far as Centrelink was concerned the issue wasn’t negotiable. It did eventually get sorted, so I’m at least not loosing my pension and being forced to pay back the dept out of pocket.

My partner, before coming to Australia was in the US military, he describes his experience with them as being treated like “numbered cannon fodder” and his dealings with the VA as being treated like “a piece of dog shit on their shoes”. He fought with the Australian immigration department for years to be allowed to stay here, the department that openly and proudly discriminated against him and me for our disabilities, that insisted he jump through countless hoops for the most ridiculous of reasons to prove he “wouldn’t be a burden on the system”. But today he just sat in the car after all this and stared off into space, saying this is the worst treatment from a government agency he’s ever seen. They didn’t see us as people, we were numbers. That automated cancellation over an automated mistake would have put us on the street if my mother wasn’t in the picture and paying off $20,000 of dept out-of-pocket. And they just didn’t care. We made a mistake, yes, but it was a mistake that is in-line with the diagnostic criteria of one of my disabilities (forgetfulness from a brain injury) and we did everything we were supposed to do to make it right once I noticed. we fessed up and did what we needed to fix it, we got help from multiple staff members to ensure we did everything we were supposed to, but a machine made a mistake and nearly ruined our lives anyway.

My fiancé and I are both disabled and currently on basic welfare and while discussing our limitations with our case worker he suggested we apply for the home care assistance program through welfare to help us keep up with day to day tasks.

We were thrilled to find out this would be covered at no cost to us due to our low income and the application process has been lengthy but otherwise unremarkable. Both of us had to fill out individual applications that took 7+ hours EACH to fill and we provided a metric fuck ton of details, especially mine, I basically wrote out my entire life story explaining how and when my disabilities started and how and when they started to be too much to bear on my own. I explained in great detail all the physical and mental health struggles I have that prevent me from taking proper care of myself and my home.

Hi there! Just saw your ask. Your profile sounds a lot like mine, maybe even more extreme.

It sounds like ADHD isn't affecting your grades. That's great!

A reframe could be helpful. Accommodations don't have to he formal. They can be as simple as choising a seat in a classroom where you can best focus, or doodling on your notes to better understand what you hear. It could be asking for what you need person to person, like asking a teacher to put spoken instructions in writing (write them on the board, or email...). You are responsible for your brain and you can take care of it in small ways, without harming anyone else or "cheating." :)

Question: do your disabilities affect you subtly in school?

* is it affecting your work habits, or how long it takes you to get the work done?

* is it making you exhausted?

*Do you often make small, random calculation errors in math even though you understand the concepts and the process? Do you have difficulty noticing them?

* Do you have trouble remembering what's due, or details of the instructions, or when and how to turn it in?

* Do you go down research rabbit holes?

* Do you have no idea how to "do the minimum" or even what the minimum would look like?

If so, your disability is affecting you academically. It may not cause you serious problems until college or later, but it's worth understanding.

Or, maybe you're lucky, and your disabilities affect you in other areas of life rather than school? If so, you may not need any services from your school. Awesome.

A processing disability is, literally, a nonverbal learning disability. Unfortunately, United States schools aren't legally required to accommodate that, so they usually don't. To my knowledge, schools take the attitude, "if it doesn't affect your classwork, only your life, we don't gaf, that's your family's problem." If you live elsewhere, I hope your education system is more helpful.

When you get to college, disability services will expect you to somehow know exactly what you need and give them a list. So, it's worth learning what works for you now. I didn't use disability services in undergrad. Ideally, you'll never have to... But if you do, you won't be the first bright person to do so.

Accommodations are not a great model for dealing with disabilities. They create unnecessary shame.

just here for a moment to say that as someone who investigates abuse and neglect of people with disabilities, the systemic bureaucratic cruelty towards people with developmental disabilities has reached staggering heights. systems are quite literally killing people with their bureaucratic penny pinching bullshit.

so here’s what I will say about that. caring for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who have high support needs is expensive. it’s also fucking vital. funding cuts should come out of the multiple unnecessary levels of job justifying bureaucracy, not people’s life saving and quality of life services, you evil fucks.

today I’ll be thinking of an individual who absolutely would still be alive today if not for some petty contract bullshit. I’ll be thinking of their caregivers who fought tirelessly, WITHOUT PAY, to provide loving care and advocacy for someone who was nonspeaking. i’ll be thinking of those who likely experienced secondary stress while trying and failing to protect this person.