It took her seven years to access the Disability Support Pension (DSP) through what she described as a “dehumanising” and “degrading” process. Her experience spurred her to write a human rights complaint to Centrelink, branding it a “barrier affecting disabled people”.
Disability advocate and lawyer Natalie Wade says Australia’s Social Security Act must be changed “to reflect the human rights of people with disability”. “The process in which they must go through to be able to access the Disability Support Pension, albeit quite often unsuccessfully, is quite a severe and not inclusive approach,” she said.