Half a Citizen by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781742376059
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2011-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Health

Poor health, whether physical or mental, and sometimes a combination of both, was a regular part of the account we received from many of our participants, and was another barrier to gaining paid work. Research by the Tasmanian Council of Social Service argued that ‘ill-health may be both a cause and a consequence of poverty or disadvantage’. Among their interviewees, health had a significant impact on quality of life. Moreover, low income contributed to poor health in a number of other ways: by reducing the capacity to buy medication and pay for other treatments and health services; through the purchase of cheaper and less nutritious food; and by living in inadequate housing.10 In a society with a free, basic medical system, only some parts of health care access are critically affected by poverty. Welfare recipients have somewhat less access to medical treatment (88 per cent of welfare clients, compared with 97 per cent of the wider population), but the more marked disparities were in terms of the ability to buy medicines (69 per cent versus 96 per cent), and access to dental care (40 per cent versus 81 per cent).11 Welfare recipients’ access is primarily restricted by prohibitive costs for some treatments. Our study suggests similar disparities in the capacity to obtain health care.

Disability Support Pension recipients qualify for income support on the basis of poor health or injury limiting their ability to work. One-third of our DSP sample disclosed mental health problems, including clinical depression and schizophrenia, roughly similar to the national average. The remaining two-thirds of our sample had physical disabilities such as back injuries and chronic pain, and other musculoskeletal conditions such as osteoarthritis, and acquired and congenital neurological injuries or disorders. We did not set out to recruit people with intellectual and learning disabilities, who nationally make up some 11 per cent of those receiving DSP.12 Those participants on DSP had the most obvious health barrier to finding work, but it was often a significant part of the story for the unemployed as well. Graham, for example, had injuries that meant he could no longer manage the work he was trained in:

I’m a qualified tyre fitter level two now, and with the work that I was doing my mind wanted to keep doing what I wanted, but my body wasn’t keeping up . .. Well it was a bit too much pressure on me, I think (Graham, aged 33, NSA).

For others with significant mental ill-health, finding suitable employment was difficult if not impossible. Serena, for example, was in long-term treatment for bipolar disorder, and said:

I know that at times I am almost 100 per cent unemployable. If I go through a manic phase, where I don’t sleep for a few weeks, I’m a complete mumbling, bumbling idiot. I don’t make any sense. I can’t focus on anything. I don’t eat. I don’t sleep. I don’t make any sense, and I’m incredibly unreliable, so to maintain a position in a job is basically impossible over a period of time (Serena, aged 29, DSP).

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