ORANGE woman Prue McCarthy has triumphed over government bureaucracy and been granted a disability support pension (DSP) after an intense lobby campaign by friends and the community.
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Ms McCarthy, who has cerebral palsy, had previously been on a disability pension but transferred to a carer’s pension to care for her grandmother.
However, when her grandmother entered a nursing home and died Ms McCarthy relinquished the carer’s payment last August and was rejected in her application to go back to a DSP.
On Wednesday she received the call she thought would never come, saying she had been granted a DSP pension.
“I need to thank my wonderful friend Andrew Ryan, because none of this would have been possible without him,” Ms McCarthy said.
“He was prepared to go on national television to support me and set up a social media page [I Support Prue McCarthy].
“I want to thank everyone for their support, messages and posts - it has been amazing.”
Ms McCarthy first went public with her struggles with Centrelink last month saying she was emotionally exhausted after fearing she would lose her house, when she was told she had to cut back her working hours at a non-government community organisation to be eligible for a DSP.
Her plight was also recently broadcast in an SBS television program.
She said at the time she had been told she may have to wait months for another medical assessment but last Monday she underwent the assessment via telephone from a doctor in Victoria.
Mr Ryan initiated the I Support Prue McCarthy Facebook page to highlight the injustice of the government decision saying Ms McCarthy has spent much of her life working to champion the cause of those living with a disability.
Ms McCarthy said she wants her story to encourage people living with a disability to never give up and to make their voices heard “instead of wanting to shut the blinds and lock yourself out of this world,” she said.
janice.harris@fairfaxmedia.com.au