Gloomy Bird

19/09/2026

This article from Greg Jericho in The Guardian highlights the harsh reality facing many people who rely on income support payments.

For people with an intellectual disability, not having enough income can make it harder to afford essentials, stay healthy, find stable housing and be part of the community.

We recently published information about income support payments, why they matter and what is at risk for people with an intellectual disability.

This information shows that people with an intellectual disability are the fastest growing group of people with disability on Jobseeker.

Read the article - a warning that the article talks about some very difficult things: https://ow.ly/V2Vm50ZOyVz

Learn more about our work in Easy Read with a big report available: https://www.inclusionaustralia.org.au/about-income-support-payments/

19/09/2026

Disability advocate, Rosie Putland was refused entry to a taxi this week due to her wheelchair as she started her first week in a new job in Canberra this week.

While Rosie's wheelchair folds down to no larger than the average suitcase and fits into an average car boot that she can pack down herself without extra assistance, yet the taxi driver still refused to take her.

PWDA Interim President Jarrod Sandell-Hay said Rosie's experience is unfortunately not isolated but disability is no reason to deny anyone services.

"... it's just another example of transport in Australia not living up to the needs of wheelchair users."

"We are taxpayers, we have money, we can afford to pay for your services, we need your services," he said. "You just need to abide by the law and not treat disabled people like second-class citizens."

Read full article: https://buff.ly/YiiWfg4

16/09/2026

Ever wonder why Pauline Hanson’s One Nation surges every time life gets tough? 📉
It’s not just a loud online minority—it’s actually a classic political pattern we’ve seen throughout history all over the world. 🌍
Here is the textbook playbook of how right-wing populism works during a crisis:
• The Trigger (Economic Pain): Populism thrives when people hurt. In the 1990s, it was regional job losses. Today, it’s the housing crisis and skyrocketing cost of living. When the system feels broken, voters look for an alternative.
• The "Us vs. Them" Setup: Instead of blaming complex global economics, the playbook simplifies the problem. It pits the "forgotten working class" against "out-of-touch elites"—and shifts the blame onto minority groups and immigration.
• The "Authentic" Rebel: When trust in mainstream politicians hits rock bottom, voters gravitate toward raw, unfiltered voices. To her base, Hanson’s bluntness isn't a flaw—it's proof that she's "real" and fighting the system.
It works like a political thermostat. When people feel secure, the movement shrinks. But when a new crisis hits, the exact same cycle repeats. 🔄

15/09/2026

Going back to school giggles...

COMIC STRIP
by Molina

On the first day of school, a child waits outside his house for the approaching school bus.
The child turns to his parents and says, "I just want to point out that, given the absurd mess we're in right now, it's the ADULTS who should be going back to school."

15/09/2026

We are not trying to make more people disabled.
We are saying we exist.
We are sick of pretending we do not.
We just want more access to the world we also live in.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14juLrc8NAH/

💁‍♀️

13/09/2026

History shows a clear pattern: when the economy gets tough, populist and extremist political parties surge. 📉
During times of high inflation, housing crises, and financial anxiety, the complex root causes of economic distress are often boiled down into simpler, easily targeted scapegoats—most frequently minority groups or immigrant populations.
This isn't a new phenomenon. It's a well-documented cycle that relies on a distinct framework:
👉 Economic Strain: Stagnant wages and skyrocketing living costs create widespread fear and desperation.
👉 Simplifying the Problem: Complex global macroeconomic issues and structural policy failures are hard to fix quickly, leading to deep voter frustration.
👉 Finding a Target: Populist rhetoric taps into this anxiety by framing minority groups or new arrivals as direct competitors for scarce resources like jobs, housing, and healthcare.
👉 The "Us vs. Them" Narrative: Blame is shifted away from systemic issues, uniting a frustrated base against an easily identifiable group.
We’ve seen this play out during the 1930s Great Depression, the 1970s stagflation, and the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Understanding this pattern is the first step in addressing the actual root causes of economic hardship rather than falling for divisive rhetoric.

12/09/2026

📌 The Truth About Being Disabled in an Outdated System
There is a common misconception that disabled people are "rorting the system" or trying to avoid work. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The reality is that disabled people are trapped in an outdated, broken system that penalizes them for trying to survive, let alone get ahead.
The Realities of the System:
• Benefits keep people in poverty.
Government disability payments are incredibly difficult to qualify for and rarely cover the baseline cost of rent, food, and life-saving medical care.
• The system punishes work.
Many programs have strict asset limits. If a disabled person earns even a little bit of money or tries to save for an emergency, they risk losing their vital healthcare entirely. It is a legal trap, not a free ride.
• The hurdle is structural, not motivational.
Most disabled people want to work and contribute. However, rigid work cultures, lack of accessibility, and a refusal to provide reasonable accommodations shut them out of the workforce.
We need support and understanding, not judgment.
Here is something to remember: Disability is the only minority group anyone can become a part of at any given second. A car accident, a sudden illness, an unexpected medical diagnosis.

Your life can change in an instant.

If that day ever comes for you, the disabled community will be the first ones fighting for your rights, your dignity, and your support. All we ask is that you stand with us now.

10/09/2026

Because the "marriage penalty" is so brutal, thousands of disabled Australians are forced into what is essentially system-enforced celibacy or perpetual dating.

People deliberately choose to live apart, never marry, or tragically break up just to keep their medical survival money.

The government isn't actually "saving" money by keeping the rule; they are just preventing human happiness and forcing people to live in separate houses, which ironically puts more strain on the broader housing and rental markets.

Governments seem to think if you are a couple then your costs are reduced.
But the costs of a disability is not reduced.
It remains the same cost, day in and day out.

The means testing is not just cruel, it is unnecessary.
Disabled people lose the basic right of a traditional relationship out of fear the sky will fall and it would cost too much.

But no one cares.
They think and believe in fairy tales where a girl meets a boy.
She accepts his disability, she likes him for who he is.
She wants to be with him, wants to marry.

Well before they marry the decide to move in together.
Now she is his sole financial responsibility.
This leads to bitterness.
She starts seeing him as a burden.
The love she had turns to hate, she starts to abuse him emotionally, financially.
He ends up depressed, leaves and now is emotionally scarred, back on support payments and homeless.

This is the not a fabrication.
This is happening every single day in Australia.
Our Government knows this is happening.
You now know it is happening.
But you will not fight for it, because you worry of the cost.
What's more important the financial cost or the human cost. ( which is not real, it costs the same, there is no change, because disabled people do not marry or live together to protect their payments and to not have this happen to them again)
I guess some of us realize one matters more than the other.

Meanwhile we are making more tax breaks for billionaires and corporations, after all, we are coming up to elections, who else is going to fund those campaigns?

07/09/2026

This is what broke up a 10 year amazing relationship for me.
My amazing person, who was my person.
She was perfect for me.
She accepted me as I was.
But if I married her, not even married but if we lived together. She would be financially responsible for me.
I wanted to marry her.
Spend my life with her but not even being able to move in with each other to see how that would go.
To feel out each other that way.
For her to become automatically my sole career.
That is what we are doing to people.
Taxpayers are going to spend the same amount regardless.
As we just wont marry, we don't do this to someone.
So all you are saving is well nothing.
All you are doing is making people who's lives are already bloody miserable to be also alone.
Nice job Australia.
This is a 120 year old rule that needs to be revised as things have changed.

07/09/2026

I was 26 when I had my accident.
I spent 4, almost 5 years looking for a cure until one of my Doctors sat me down and pointed out looking for a cure has left me completely broke and pulling at strings.
I had tried everything, even faith healing and having to be sat down with an almost intervention from my family Doctor was heartbreaking.

I saw a therapist for a few months afterwards, as I came to grips with how I had to live with this disorder.

I then spent the next 15 years trying to start my own businesses, work online, work anywhere so I could get off disability payments and have control over my own life.

I am 48 now.
6 weeks ago after failing at trying to work from home, and failing even that, I had a crash.

A major crash realizing that I have to accept I can not work.
That working causes so much stress on my mind and body that all I end up doing is working and recovering.
This is the cycle I kept finding myself in.
Not resting on the weekends.
Not going away on holidays when I take a week off.

( there will be people saying but this is what everyone does but no, no it is not. Recovering is not the same as resting)

Recovering. Trying to get myself back to a stable state where the pain was not the only thing that I could concentrate on.

This is not just my story.
This is a lot of other peoples stories.

The way the media portrays people on disability is disgusting.
Do you think we have not tried?
Do you think we love struggling to wrestle between eating a meal a day and managing the cost of our ongoing medical costs.

The thing is our lives are worth living.
What is wrong with society is we live and work in an ableist society.
No matter what companies do or say, even when they discuss or even hire disabled people we are all one sick day away from being a liability.

I don't blame employers.
You can not really employ a staff member that sneezed last night and now can not get out of bed for a few days.
That is not sustainable to their business.

I don't know what the answer is as I am ok some days.
I can still work, some days.

I can not decide what day that is, I only know on the day.
I am lucky that I have some good days with my condition.
A lot of other disabled people have no good days, they struggle but they have a life that is worth it to live.

All life is precious but what is not right.
What needs to stop.
Is people saying horrible s**t about disabled people because there are a few criminals that are taking advantage of our systems.

This has to stop.

It makes every disabled person feel attacked.
It makes us feel like we constantly have to prove we are disabled enough.
We do not want to have to live like we do.

We do because it is the only choice we have in a world not designed for us.
Stop telling people online that your tax dollars should not have to pay for our lifestyle.
The disability pensions and old age pensions are there for you to.

Life is unpredictable.
You could do everything right your entire life and still end up with nothing.
It is called social insurance for a reason.
It is there to catch you if you fall to.

Just remember that.
It is not just for us but it is also there for you.