Australia & Centrelink. Do they class Crohn's Disease as a Disability?

Question

Is there anyone with Crohn's claiming a disability payment from Centrelink. I'd like to know if they class it as one.

Answer 1

Surely the issue is medical proof that you are temporarily or permanently prevented from working? If the major symptoms of Crohn's cannot be suppressed by medication then you may have a case, but by itself I don't think that Centrelink will wear just the diagnosis.

Answer 2

I don't know, but there are different variants of disability, you may be totally exempt from work, or you May be only capable of working for a few hours. Here a case that may help you see how hard it can bee to get help from centerlink...My husband has worked hard every day since he left school, after years of doing back breaking work his back has deteriorated to the point that he is in agony every second of every day. The doctor told him that he had to stop doing such hard physical work, because one wrong move could pinch his spinal column and he could be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. After about two more years hubby decided there may be something to, what the doctor said( or he could simply not keep going) He was in agony, and we were sleeping on a mattress, it was so bad he could at least roll off and then take his time gettin up in the morning...And by now he also had severe arthritis in his back hips and knees.
We got the certificate required from the doctor(struth it said he couldent lift anything ove five kg!! Our kids weighed more than that!...We went on the waiting list for an operation , which may or may not improve life for him, heres hoping...And off we went to centerlink and went through all their testing as well.
A few weeks later we get this letter in the mail, telling us our claim had been rejected! Well you can imagine how i felt being told that they did not want to give us the disability, because ....there might be something the doctors can do! Thats the reason they gave us! The bloody operation we were waiting on from another bloody government department, totally out of our hands...I asked this young girl if she could speed the operation up for us because our kids might get a bit hungry by then, and she asked me not to be rude!
Can you immagine how my bear of a husband felt after working hard every day of his life...and being in this situation in the first place....to be told sorry mate, lets see if you can be fixed first,,,but sorry we cant hurry that up for you, go home and think about going back to work...even though your doctors and ours agree that working now could put you in a wheelchair! Or you could go on the dole!( the Dole is a dirty word to my husband)
So here we are, sitting on the dole, while hubby nearly crippled, looks for a job he might handle,who wants a cripple in their employ? and learns computers at tafe...because he stopped the other job, like the doctors told him... And we are still waiting for the operation, twelve months later!
Its nice to see how a good hard working man gets treated, by the government, in this country!
So good luck getting a payment from them!