Thank you 2020socialjustics for supporting this petition

PUSHING THROUGH DISABILITY CAN DAMAGE SURVIVAL Petition to reconsider changes to eligibility for DSP (Disability Support Pension) that mean “if you are able to get out of bed in the morning ... you are not impaired enough to warrant being paid the DSP" (as paraphrased in a recent article by John Maycock in “Independent Australia”). The author of this petition, Tammy Milne, writes: “I live with a condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita. I have no muscle development from my hips down, and my bones are crooked and fragile. I cannot walk without aides and use a wheelchair. My goal always has been to work but at times I am unable to because of my condition. So I went to Centrelink to reapply for DPS, but am no longer eligible. I meet over and above the 20 points required to show I have a severe impairment but because I have pushed through it all my life and basically supported myself I have proved that I am capable of work; that is, I have a job capability greater than my physical impairment score.” …………………………………… It seems clear that current policies aim to cut benefits, but it makes no sense to jeopardise people’s survival who are struggling to function to full potential. To again quote John Maycock: “Government does not want to accept that people can suffer long-term incapacities that are barriers to employment, while not being totally and completely incapacitated. There doesn’t appear to be any real concern given to whether working will be detrimental to the condition, whether the requirements will exacerbate it, whether the condition renders a person unemployable, or whether the person is able to compete in the job market — the latter often feeding negatively back into all of the former. The only test is whether you are totally and completely disabled and that is not a test of your true capacity to acquire and hold down a job.” Criteria for DSP surely need to bring a health and wellbeing lens to the table as well as an economic one...Joan Beckwith.