National Disability Insurance Scheme: Half signed getting disability support for first time
Glance once at Teisha Rose; you’ll see a dark-haired woman walking alongside the glossy, silvered expanse of the bay, a little terrier on a lead.
Look twice, and you might notice the slim black cane she uses for support on longer walks, or when she’s having a tough day.
Twenty years ago, Rose was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a condition of the central nervous system that interferes with nerve impulses. During her relapses Rose has been bedridden in hospital, or in a wheelchair, with little mobility.
But aside from a short stint on the disability pension as a student years ago, Rose did not receive any disability support until the National Disability Insurance Scheme trial started in her area in 2014.
This was because she wanted to work – not possible on a pension – and because her diagnosis “fell between the cracks”.
“With MS you slip between two worlds; you are either in the world of hospital and rehab, or you do everything you can to get better and are too ‘well’ to qualify,” Rose says.
Source: Brisbane Times