Oskar
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‘You kind of just become a piece of currency getting passed around and profited off of and never helped.’
Oskar is in his 20s and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety. He’s been looking for work since high school.
‘I have quite severe ADHD basically which wasn't diagnosed when I was a kid,’ Oskar told the Royal Commission.
Oskar doesn’t qualify for the Disability Support Pension, but uses Disability Employment Services (DES) to find work.
‘I've never been referred to a job vacancy to apply for other than occasionally being offered full-time work in an industry that I have no experience in that is at a location nowhere near where I live.’
Rather than finding him a suitable job, Oskar said DES providers try to maximise the government subsidies they receive from having him on their books.
‘The government rewards providers that can have clients stay with them longer voluntarily when they don't have to because they see that as being a sign that the client's getting value from the provider and the provider's doing a good job.’
Oskar said one DES provider promised him gift vouchers every three months he stayed with them, writing to thank him for his ‘kind support’.
‘I didn't realise I was supporting them.’
At the end of six months, after the DES provider received the maximum government subsidy, it didn’t send his second voucher.
‘Their motivation for keeping me as a voluntary client is completely gone. They have no incentive for me to, after that point, be in a good position in terms of my employment, my wellbeing.’
Oskar said instead of gift vouchers he’d rather have support – buying clothes for a job interview, for example.
At another DES provider he had to explain to a consultant what ADHD is.
‘And I saw her scrolling through the list of conditions on their system and she was saying to herself, “I can't find it. I suppose it isn't really a condition, is it?” … How is this my disability employment services consultant? How is the government paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for me to have the privilege of seeing this person?’
Recently, Oskar had an injury and for a few months wasn’t required to deal with a DES provider. During that time he found ‘probably the best job [he’s] ever had’.
‘I was in the right headspace as a direct result of, in fact, not having to engage with my DES provider. Yeah, the break from them is what I needed to get a job,’ Oskar told the Royal Commission.
‘I'm a pretty capable person outside of the symptoms of my conditions. The main barriers for my employment have been basically poverty and the fact that what little money I do have is tied to dealing with these [DES] providers … there's got to be tens of thousands of people like me.’
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.