Lorne
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Lorne is in his 40s and has cerebral palsy. He lives independently and uses a walking stick and motorised scooter.
A few years ago, Lorne had a permanent job in IT in a regional organisation.
‘We get a new [manager and] I didn't really fit in his ideal working scope,’ Lorne told the Royal Commission.
The manager asked Lorne to halve the number of hours he works.
‘Twenty-one hours [a fortnight] isn't enough hours to live off.’
Lorne said the manager suggested he move within the organisation to another region to keep his hours, but that meant finding new support workers and a house to suit his disability.
‘It's a little bit more complicated for a person with disabilities to relocate to another job compared to an abled person … So what choice did I have?’
Lorne resigned to find another job that matched his abilities, but discovered disability employment services (DES) providers would only help him find work for eight hours a week.
‘Their obligation is only to find you eight hours a week … Once they find you employment, you are really, for the rest of your life, you’ve got no option to expand your employment opportunity goals.’
Lorne is able and willing to work 30 hours a week, but said the DES wouldn’t help him find a suitable job because of his particular circumstances.
‘I think the problem is, is actually the funding. It takes more time to help employ a person with a disability over a jobseeker.’
To get by, Lorne applied for the Disability Support Pension (DSP).
‘I'd rather be off the DSP. [But] Centrelink … are saying that if you're able to work more than … eight hours a week, you should be on JobSeeker … But the thing is … there aren't enough jobs out there to suit my disability to do that.’
To try to get off the DSP, Lorne recently applied for five jobs on his own, and received five interviews.
‘As soon as they see my physical disability, they question. They go through the motion, but at the end of the day if they've got another candidate ... they will go to an able person.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.