Finally got the Disability pension in Australia

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Hi, best day ever I finally got the dsp after three rejections. And they back paid me as well ! !!
Now that all the pressure from centrelink and job network providers is no longer, I have volunteered at the RSPCA and get to be with animals three days a week. I feel on top of the world for the first time ever in 44y years. Has any one else had such relief when the government takes off the pressure? which has always been a major cause of anxiety in my life.

My gut reaction is that it is kind of sad when people leave the labour market for good, so I hope you really have thought it through. But I'm sure you have, if you have been applying for a long time, so congratulations.

All that time and effort could have been spent getting a qualification suitable for vet or similar animal care career, then get paid for what you love to do. I don't know your background, but surely giving up with disability pension is hardly good for the soul.

This thread is a little old and I don't want to start anything, but WHY!? is getting benefits when you cannot work a full-time job to pay your way (substantial gainful activity in the US) is considered GIVING UP!? WHY!?

I'd say it's better for the soul to be happy and have a safety net than torture yourself trying to 'be normal'.... If you come back to this thread, Appleisbetter, know that is it more noble to accept help when you need it and do something good for society than fight against it your whole life. I hope that what you do from now on will continue to make you happy.

hi thank you all for the replies, I am far from giving up i'v been married for twenty years and have three great kids we own our house outright and don't owe any one a sent so money is not such a big factor for me. its more the fact that the australian govt has made it much harder to qualify for disability pension by implementing a new set of impairment tables making it harder to get and affecting thousands of people who are currently on it. its just feels good not to be bullied, had too much of that at school. I'm sure that now i don't HAVE to get a job that they think i can do, i will find something that i CAN do. As far as paying my way i don't pay income tax but in australia we do have a goods and services tax on everything we do so i do pay tax. As the last poster stated i'm more interested in happiness for me and my family than the government's unemployment figures.

Agreed. When I was in the job market, there was always the stress of having to fulfill requirements, every fortnight, and the social hassles of others looking down on us for long term unemployment. It's just pressure all the time.

But get on DSP and the pressure's off. It's great. And it's a pay increase. And while I don't have to look for work, I can work 14 hours and 59 minutes per week, and/or voluntary work, and/or some modes of study. And I get to raise my kids instead of just seeing them on the weekends.

Mind you though, I'm not just AS. I also recently came down with a diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease. That's gonna devolve into something nasty

Getting some kind of pension does not mean giving up. It doesn't mean you are not allowed to work, I guess it is even encouraged. (wouldn't you get bored?) But it can take a lot of pressure off, if you don't have to take every stupid job you know is going to make you miserable. I don't know how it is in your country but here when you are unemployed you are kind of forced to take any job you are offered or you don't get any benefits, applying to jobs, not getting them because you can't actually do them or getting fired because of your "problems" is quite a lot "worse for your soul", let me assure you. I had to take jobs that were totally not suited for me, too loud, to many people, being shouted at and lots of pressure. And it made me depressed and burned out.
With a pension you don't have existential fears, and you can look for a work enviroment that really suits you or you don't have to work 40 something hours a week - which is too much for many Aspies.

Aspergers is a disability which makes many things harder on us, so nobody should feel bad because he can not manage his (work) life as well as some NT. Nobody would dare to critizise somebody with a physical disability if he could only work 50% or less and got a pension. And I really don't feel it is that different, some people just can not work full time and make themselves sick trying to.

Apologies if I was a little hard on you, and I do understand your position.

i guess being someone who has aspergers and has never had much of an issue with getting and maintaining a fairly sccessfull career I don't underrstand. I guess I have been lucky, but i am grateful for where I have gone and done.

If it suits you, then fair enough.

I'd also like to chime in and say that there's probably no such thing as a soul, at least in the common mythological sense, so my support is with you if you choose to ignore any unscientific assertions about what may or may not be damaging to one.