I have decided to write this post as a guide for anyone applying for
disability under the terms of mental illness. A number of years ago now
11 to be precise, I was offered the opportunity to apply for disability.
I had left a full time job to be wit...
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I have decided to write this post as a guide for anyone applying for
disability under the terms of mental illness. A number of years ago now
11 to be precise, I was offered the opportunity to apply for disability.
I had left a full time job to be with my family who were moving state, I
couldn't change this.I had always suffered from episodes of depression
and anxiety, but had coped enough to pursue qualifications and a few
jobs. Because I needed the support of my family to cope, I left my job,
and intended to find another, but that sadly did not eventuate. This put
me on a collision course with government policy. Within months of
leaving work and trying to find another job, I found myself in one Work
for the Dole program after another, I suffer from fatigue due to
depression and severe sleep apnea. Because the WFD programs didn't cater
to my illnesses, I was picking up trash by the roadside, travelling
kilometres on foot to be degraded and treated like bludging garbage and
made to feel as if I was being exploited, which even though possibly not
the intention was the end result, throwing me into deep depression, and
even thoughts of suicide. I have no doubt other people feel the same
with the current way of treating the unemployed. I wanted work, I
couldn't get it, and within three WFD programs I was suffering severe
anxiety to go along with my chronic depression, and extreme fatigue,
from all that goes along with WFD, threats of non-compliance, treatment
as if you are worthless and looked down upon, being put into programs
that don't give skills or training to improve chances of getting back
into the workforce, or worse aggravate illnesses such as high levels of
fatigue that I personally would avoid when going after jobs, given my
severe sleep apnea. I so desperately wanted work, and my mental health
was crashing, eventually, I was assessed as being "Unfit to work"... and
at this stage, I truly was, the system had done more to take away my
confidence and aggravate mental health issues than working ever could, I
had gone from holding it together to maintain work and be part of the
world to being unable to be part of anything. The tunnel with that
glimmer of hope at the end, the one that said, you'll find work again,
there is a way out of this hell, seemed longer and longer. I was in the
deepest depression I have ever been in, and the lifeline that was the
DSP, turned out to be the rope that would bind me, and drag me to the
deepest depths of despair.
How do I talk to my doctor?
