


Short changed by discrimination

Stella Young Ramp Up 21 Jan 2014
Coins on open hand

What if you were paid so little that you still had to rely on welfare to survive? Credit: ABC Open South East NSW


Whether or not we like our jobs, most of us are paid fairly for the work we do. But many Australians with intellectual disabilities are working full time for less than $2 a day. Where's the dignity in that, asks Stella Young.

Around this time of year, work is on the minds of many Australians. Whether you've already returned to the hum-drum, or you still have a few more days left on the beach, the end of January typically brings a return to routine. No matter how fulfilled we are by our work, paid annual leave and sleeping in until 10am is always pretty hard to give up. I know I struggled!

Nonetheless, we all have to earn a living, right? Even those among us who are lucky enough to love our jobs would have to admit that at least part of the reason we work is to earn money. In between all this work, we like to eat out at restaurants, go on trips, buy nice things, not to mention pay rent and meet the cost of living.

But what if your job didn't pay you enough to enjoy those things? What if you were paid so little that you still had to rely on welfare to survive? What if you were paid, say, $1.79 an hour?

This is the actual hourly rate received by Tyson Duval-Comrie, a 25-year-old employee of an Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE) in Melbourne. Duval-Comrie has an intellectual disability and works at a packaging centre undertaking tasks such as placing sugar sticks in boxes and securing lids on herb containers.

In case you're confused about the terminology, Australian Disability Enterprises used to be called 'sheltered workshops'. We got rid of the crappy name but unfortunately the crappy system didn't follow. Many of these organisations employ people with intellectual disabilities full time.

So how can someone who is working full time in a legal business be paid as little as $1.79 an hour? Because of a little thing called the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool (BSWAT). Employees assessed using BSWAT are evaluated using a two-pronged approach based on productivity and competency.

The productivity component is pretty straightforward. Let's say the basic wage for a job like, oh I don't know, placing sugar sticks in boxes, was $10 per hour. (Minimum wage for non-disabled workers in Australia is actually $16.37 per hour, but rounding down makes the maths manageable for my non-maths brain). Let's say the person who was most productive at this job could pack 100 boxes per hour. And because of your disability, you're only able to pack 30 boxes in an hour. You would be paid, based on your relative productivity, $3 per hour.

Pro-rata systems like this actually exist in many places across the labour market, but the BSWAT takes this one step further by assessing an employee's competency. As a person with an intellectual disability, in this part of the assessment, you would be asked questions such as, "What are some other jobs that people do here?" or, "What should you do if you see something unsafe in the workplace?" Funnily enough, I recall answering similar questions in my online employee induction here at the ABC. Fortunately for me, a wrong answer (of which I'm sure I gave many) had no impact on my salary. In contrast, an incorrect or inadequate answer to one of these questions while being assessed using the BSWAT could see your $3 per hour reduced to something like $1.79 an hour.

In December 2012 the Federal Court ruled the BSWAT was discriminatory under the Disability Discrimination Act in the cases of two intellectually disabled men, Gordon Prior and Michael Nojin, who were employed in two different ADEs. The court decision only applied to these two individuals and their specific cases, which means other people with intellectual disabilities are still being paid wages decided by their assessment under a tool that is known to be unfair.

Last week the Government announced that intellectually disabled workers who could prove they had suffered economic loss while working under their BSWAT assessment in an ADE would be eligible for a one-off payment. However, claiming the payment would also exclude workers from taking legal action against the government. Law firm Maurice Blackburn is currently representing thousands of workers who have been underpaid, taking legal action to try and stop the Federal Government's plan to address the underpayments.

Of course, nothing happens in a vacuum. We need to look at this scheme and the very fact that sheltered workshops still exist in the context of an education system that offers extremely poor outcomes for disabled students. Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes has been known to talk about the fact that people with disabilities "carry the soft burden of low expectation". A friend of mine, who now has a PhD, told me that when he was still enrolled at special school in Victoria, students were driven to the local sheltered workshop (sorry, Australia Disability Enterprise) and told that's where they would work when they were older. No "what do you want to be when you grow up?" conversations for these kids.

One of the arguments I often hear in support of the abysmally low wages paid to people with intellectual disabilities is that it actually serves the employee, as it means they can still claim the DSP. Meanwhile, Governments continually threaten to 'crack down' on DSP recipients, making it harder to access payments, but still maintain a system that keeps people with disabilities in need of the pension. And all the while, we're drowning in media coverage that paints people with disabilities as bludgers and drains on the system.

Speaking in support of ADEs last week on Radio Adelaide, Assistant Minister for Social Services Mitch Fifield said that these organisations afford people with intellectual disabilities "the dignity of work." I'd agree with Minister Fifield; dignity is an important part of work. Many of us, particularly those of us with disabilities who have faced persistent discrimination throughout our lives, not least when trying to find employment in the first place, take enormous pride in our hard-fought jobs and careers. It is, however, much easier to feel dignified when you're paid more than token pocket money that might not even cover your transport costs for the working week.

Comments (28)


  • Quentin :

    02 Feb 2014 4:21:12pm

    Personally I think this is one of the most important pieces Stella has ever written.

    When I was an 'inmate' at Regency Park for the Young Disabled we were told countless times that we would never need to get a job because the government would always take care of us and that if we got a job it would take our pension away.

    This negative indoctrination caused many people to grow up in fear of work and affected their aspirations or desire to gain meaningful employment. They were made to believe that working in a sheltered workshop was good for them.

    I saw too many intelligent people give up on their goals and choose what accounted to be slave labour. I believe that if you have a physical, intellectual or mental disability you still deserve a proper days pay.

    Dignity of work is important. Remuneration for that work is essential.

    Thank you Stella for raising this important topic!

  • Geoff Edwards :

    24 Jan 2014 4:15:10pm

    ADE's are not sustainable businesses. The sort of work they do is fast disappearing. Businesses who use ADE's including government departments constantly screw them down on price.
    Quite a number have closed and most cross subsidize from fundraising or other sources.
    The vast majority of the 20,000 people who work in them will lose their jobs because it is not a sustainable industry. Extra costs will tip them over the edge. Endeavour Foundation the biggest of these operations have said the most likely outcome of increased costs would be to close
    ADE's. Their submission says they employ 1855 people.

    You'd be a fool to think that private business will provide jobs in open employment for people with such low productivity levels. Both business and government don't employ vast numbers of people with a disability now.

    I'm sure some of those reading this will be excited at the prospect of finally seeing the end of ADE's in Australia. This is a Ford/Toyota/Holden/SPC waiting to happen. All of the demands those employees made eventually ended up making car manufacturing unstainable, jobs were lost ......and then everyone complained. Well ADE's will be unsustainable if they aren't already.

    I don't accept the sentiment being expressed that claims to fight for better wages for people with disabilities (realistic or not) that puts them out of work. "We got you better wages. But sorry you lost your job, your skills, your work friends, your pride, your independence".

    Perhaps the zealots would like to explain to every person with a disability who will never get a job again, how they fought for their cause. Hope you sleep well at night.

    • Sue O'Reilly :

      28 Jan 2014 1:52:44pm

      Sadly Geoff, the zealots sleep perfectly well at night. In fact, they live their entire lives in a self-congratulatory haze of moral superiority, because they are absolutely convinced they are fighting the good fight for "my people", as Stella often describes people with disabilities. And yes, they are entirely well-intentioned and yes, they can point to all sorts of individual experiences (often their own, and usually dating back to childhood) where people with disabilities were ill-treated and discriminated against and suffered from the prejudices of others, and yes, there is much to fight and rail against in the treatment of people with disabilities, both historically and present day. However, the problem is that the zealots have no conception whatsoever that the situation and individual needs of people with severe to profound intellectual disability is entirely different from the situation of people with physical disabilities who are bright, smart, highly educated (often to PhD level), and often in prestigious, well-paid jobs. And it's this latter group which gets to sit on govt committeees, fly around the world to UN talkfests, write media articles, consult on govt policy etc etc etc. An adult with the mental age of an 18-month-old can't get a mainstream job? Must be the fault of the education system! Must be because they went to a crappy special school! Solution? Easy - just close all special schools and place that person in a mainstream education setting and sit back contentedly and watch as they are snapped up by Goldman Sachs. Or the ABC. Or any law firm you care to mention. Or maybe employed as the CEO of a disability advocacy organisation... I would love to know the opinions of those with the most severe intellectual disabilities re this particular train of thought but sadly, they never get a look in - do they?

    • mick :

      29 Jan 2014 6:07:57pm

      my son prefers to to learn in an education environment where he isn't separated from his brother ,friends ,cousins ,other kids in the street by an invisible line drawn by people who who encourage a division in the minds of developing young minds(future leaders of business, and political life) . He refuses to be drawn into a situation where he would be working amongst a group of people who were only identified as "disabled" and did not identify with rest of the known world that he lives among , he understands well enough that everyone is different (as is he) and chooses diversity as it occurs in everday life , you see the biggest problem with your argument is that when you repeatedly don't allow the rest of the community to engage in life stage development with people with serious ID , you are putting empathy in danger of being misrepresented as pity,the known and owned as the disenfranchised and poorly understood which in all but a few does not lead to a compassionate holistic society that values and includes all its members, in the case of my own son he chooses too not be separated by how he looks or thinks ,how well he does or does not and his peers who one day will be the ones whom vote ,create and sustain the economy are not the ones choosing the conditions with which disability is received in THEIR future ,its people like you and Geoff whom because of the failingly persistent ideologies of the Brocken history that precedes them are struggling to leave that paradigm shattered on the ground , so now you know ,poeple with serious Ids want to be allowed the right to be known for their goods and bads by their peers as they grow and not be separated or bound by exclusion which is bred into their society by ideologues for whom fear creates a self sustaining industry of barrier building and maintaining ,idealogues stay awake long into the night spending their lives in haze of self inflicted low level anxiety worrying over to maintain the status quo for fear of change(you can see that in the flight or fight response to the contrary opinions and ideas of others) An adult with the mental age of an 18 month old cant get a job the rest of the kids whom were never allowed to live alongside that child were never allowed to see the alternative possibilities to disabilities and you say that isn't a direct line to not wanting to employ, work, socialize with in their future, problem with idealogues is they are so sure that they are right and knowledgable their is no room for the concepts of change let alone the input of others

  • Bridgett :

    23 Jan 2014 2:58:40pm

    I worked in an ADE for 11 months in 2011, and have found myself regularly fighting down my disgust at how things are run. In an economic sense, I can partly understand that even with the low wages, these 'enterprises' are like day options but with minuscule amounts of pay as well, and cannot run at a profit. Even so, I found that the assessment system did no allow for a person's intellectual capability if, like me, your reasons for undertaking that kind of employment were due to physical disability (yes, it's not just for people with intellectual disabilities). I have previous experience with invoices, running offices, call centres, so I have extensive work experience... and yet physically, I was unable to maintain stable employment. I thought maybe I would find understanding and compassion - and fair (if lower) pay in this environment. Indeed, by the person I first dealt with, I was promised that, and only informed otherwise once 'in the fold'.

    My first wage assessment came back as $1.61 because I had just started, was not familiar with the different roles within the warehouse, and was not yet practised at my job. That rate would have afforded me around $35 a week for the hours I was doing, with which I had to afford the extra fuel to drive the 30 mins to and from work every day, over and above what I would normally use while not working. Quite frankly, I told them it was an insult and that I wanted to exercise my right to reassessment. I am just lucky that I have the ability to understand that there IS a right to reassessment, among other rights that are not widely publicised in that environment.

    I feel that the system of the entire sector (not necessarily individuals working within it) treats PWD as burdensome fools, and does not allow properly for the different levels of ability across the spectrum. In a sector where a fair few people using these opportunities do not have the cognitive ability to understand what is 'fair' and 'not fair', 'appropriate' and 'not appropriate', should the system not be able to offer that protection to them?

    To have a government say 'we will pay you as long as you let the matter rest' is akin to saying 'if you want our money you need to be grateful we're even allowing to include you'. I can think of no greater demoralising attitude.


    23 Jan 2014 10:42:42am

    The state of Massachusetts (USA) is on the way to becoming a leader among other states by taking the initiative to close sheltered workshops and provide supported employment in integrated settings.The Patrick administration has developed a plan to close sheltered workshops by June 30, 2015 and transition people with intellectual disabilities into integrated work opportunities that pay a minimum wage or higher that is based on person-centred career plans.

    To read the full document please go to: http://www.addp.org/images/Nov2013Conference/blueprint%20for%20success%20full%20version%20final%2011.6.13.pdf

  • Craig :

    22 Jan 2014 8:24:11pm

    I have a close family member in New Zealand who worked somewhere like this for very low wages. Apparently this ended when the New Zealand government changed the law so that the minimum wage applied to everyone without exception. What this meant was that he became too expensive to employ. IE he became unemployable. Family tell me that loosing employment was a retrograde step for him.

    • Jo Bloggs :

      23 Jan 2014 2:54:35pm

      Got to be a middle ground and common sense in this.

      If the disabled person is slower than abeloid, then of course job pays less. Is basic wage around $16 per hour ?

      We do understand that a job is inclusion and mixing with others for many intellectually (or otherwise disabled) people as it is good for them.

      However NO ONE is ever to work for $1 - $4 per hour only as that constitutes as someone else has said....Slavery.

  • Sue O'Reilly :

    22 Jan 2014 4:10:44pm

    The way in which ADEs operate, the sorts of work they offer and the ways in which wage levels are set are all important matters for ongoing inquiry, investigation and review, for numerous reasons. But Stella, it is very clear to me from your article that you know virtually nothing about this very complex subject, and I don't believe anyone is helped by outpourings of emotive indignation based on a very superficial understanding of the issues involved, as opposed to fully informed and fact-based analyses. I am not defending any particular wage amount paid to any ADE employee, but your article fails entirely to take into any account that unlike other workers, ADE employees also get weekly DSP payments and all the associated benefits like cheaper medicines and subsidies etc etc, as pointed out by one ADE worker on The Drum site, and would lose all those benefits if paid significantly more, thereby leaving them actually worse off financially. I also believe we should take the opinions of lawyers working for the law firm involved in this case with a large pinch of salt, as unless they are doing this entirely pro bono (and who knows? maybe they are? I'd like to know, wouldn't you?), then they are not exactly neutral commentators. Clearly, you object on ideological grounds to the fact that "sheltered workshops still exist." Before you start campaigning to have them all closed down however, I'd make very sure if I were you that the thousands of people who worked in them had other, better alternatives to turn to. Maybe you could check how many people with profound intetllectual disabilities the ABC employs?? Or alternatively, the law firm involved in this matter??

    • SES :

      22 Jan 2014 9:21:22pm

      At last, someone that actually understands the system! Well said and I wish reporters would do some actual research first. The DSP is still paid and the person is allowed to earn a small bit extra on top of this per fortnight before losing any of the DSP. The original media release from the Lawyers referring to the ADE as a "sheltered workshop" just shows what they are in it for, certainly not the PEOPLE they claim to represent.

    • Kelly J :

      22 Jan 2014 10:39:44pm

      Hi Sue, what an informative comment you've made here! I think if you go back and re-read Stella's article you will see that she does actually make reference to the fact that the low wage paid to disabled workers is subsidized by the DSP. I agree with you that this is a very complex subject and that there would be many ramifications to changing the system so that all workers in Australia were paid a living wage, however, surely this is as good a place as any to start the discussion. Why couldn't people with disabilities who ARE able to work be assessed as to whether or not they actually need the extra support offered by the DSP? Some may, and some may not. I am unashamedly willing to sit with Stella in the camp that protests that "sheltered workshops still exist" and as the parent of a child with an intellectual disability, I work hard to stive towards the goal of employment for her outside the realms of ADE. Before you start pouring out your indignation at the employment practices of the ABC and the law firm mentioned in the article, perhaps you could share with us the story of why you are so supportive of the status quo.

    • Sue O'Reilly :

      23 Jan 2014 12:41:23pm

      Hi Kelly - First, no one's "starting the discussion" on this site; it's been going on for something like the past 30 years. Second, Stella only makes reference to DSP payments in the context of ADEs by talking about govts seeking to crack down on DSP recipients found not to actually be entitled to it. The facts are as follows: currently, there are something like 20,000 people employed in ADEs in Australia. If you take the commonly accepted stat that there are 2 million Australians with some form of disability or other, this means that approx 1% of people with disabilities work in ADEs. ADE places are heavily subsidised by govt (ie taxpayers) because people working in ADEs need a lot of addtional supports not available in mainstream workplaces. Until recently, the fed govt capped the number of ADE placements it was willing to subsidise at 19,600, with the result that demand for ADE placements far exceeded supply. (This cap has only recently been removed, because the alternative for many people with severe intellectual disability unable to get an ADE placement is not working in some groovy, well-paid mainstream job - like Stella's for example - it's sitting around at home their whole lives subsisting in poverty on the DSP and watching TV.) As a parent of a child with ID, it's great you are willing and in a position to strive towards the goal of non-ADE employment for her. Good on you. Experience has shown that pretty much the only way anyone with an ID ever accesses a non-ADE job is through the hard work, determination and creative thinking of that person's parent/s, often by starting up some small self-employed business. All you have to do is take a look at the stats, worldwide, on employment levels for pwd, particularly severe ID, and you'll begin - perhaps - to appreciate why ADEs continue to exist. If you are a "bludger" who does not actually need the DSP, there is no way you would ever get (let alone want) an ADE placement. Nor would you get one. I don't support "the status quo" - I support people making an effort to know what they are talking about before commenting.

    • David :

      23 Jan 2014 1:01:09pm

      Kelly, I agree with most of what Sue says except that I do not believe there should be any correlation between the DSP and what people get paid. But firstly let's step back a bit. There are around 22,000 people with a Disability working in ADE's across Australia (most with an intellectual disability). They are supported in the workplace by around 2,500 people working in a training and development capacity. The average wage across Australia is approximately $4.50per hour. Some people (not many) are paid as high as $14:00ph whilst I think most ADE's now pay a minimum of $2:05 an hour. The only issue in my mind that is in play is what is a fair wage for a person with a disability to be paid. There is undoubted social, psychological and physical health benefits associated with work. Perhaps more so for people with a disability who by and large have restricted circles of community interactions etc. However that is largely irrelevant because ultimately people should be paid what they are "worth". Arguably those same benefits accrue to us and our wages are not then seen as candidates to be reduced because we are getting side benefits from working. The BSWAT tool was developed after significant consultation (over 7 years) in the sector. It is far from perfect. It needs review. The Federal Court decision raised a number of issues (I have actually read it unlike so many commentators) but the most important was the majority decision 2-1 that it was in essence discriminatory. Alas many have seen that it should be thrown out and ADE's should move to the Supported Wage System (SWS) tool which is basically a straight productivity tool. It's proponents see a quick fix but in reality it is as unsuitable for the determination of wages as perhaps the BSWAT tool has been deemed by the Federal Court. Appellant lawyers, advocates and even families sometimes do not understand the the complexity of issues surrounding safe employment of people with a disability in the workplace. To simply measure productivity for a short time interval on a specific task (and often sub task) belies the costs associated with training, supervision and the availability of work in the specific commercial endeavour. People with an ID often need to be re-trained on the same task each day or cannot easily move from task to task without significant re-training. If all these factors were considered in the productivity assessment say over a prolonged period of say 1 month then I suspect you would end up with a wage outcome very similar to the current environment.

      I also think people who use the term sheltered workshops ought to visit one and update their knowledge. Most ADE's but sadly not all attempt to provide a range of jobs/tasks for individuals to maximise their career opportunities.

    • Joanne :

      23 Jan 2014 2:25:08pm

      You can still get the DSP and earn a dignified wage. I work 10 hours a week and earn a couple of hundred a week, while still receiving a part DSP pension of $500 a f/n. These workers could therefore definitely be paid more than $1 an hour and still receive DSP.

    • Bridgett :

      23 Jan 2014 3:05:07pm

      Yes, but the DSP is also scaled when a person works in mainstream employment as well, and to be honest even with the scaling, a DSP recipient is better off as there is only 40c of the dollar taken out after the first $152 a fortnight. In the ADE model this is not the case, and that is their reasoning for lowering of the wages - full time hours can then be worked with the pension not being affected. This probably is the case to prevent 'double dipping' - after all, if ADE employees were paid minimum wage of $16 an hour BY the ADE (which is government run), then paid their pension as well, this would double up and dig deeper into the funding allocated. Having worked in one of the ADEs, I found that the biggest misinformation spread around was how the DSP works in relation to mainstream work. Many of the employees were convinced that they would lose their pension the second they got even one hour of mainstream work (for those for whom it was an option).

    • Sue O'Reilly :

      23 Jan 2014 5:49:30pm

      Thankyou for this info, David, very useful. What I would like to see is some detailed analysis of the economics/financials of individual ADEs and the sector as a whole. By this I mean - if an ADE is making shedloads of money each year in net income/profits for the NFP disability charity/organisation that runs it, then a very compelling case could and should be made that their disabled employees could and should be paid more than the currently very low average wage paid. On the other hand, if an ADE is running at a very low profit, or almost none at all, then insisting on significant wage rises for that ADE's workers would have only one outcome: closure. (A bit like what's happened to the Australian car industry.) As I understand it, ADEs have to tender for work contracts and usually only get them by significantly undercutting mainstream businesses. ADEs also have much higher oncosts (for support workers/training etc) than mainstream businesses - all of which helps explain why govts have to subsidise them so heavily. Are you aware of any figures showing the average net profits of ADEs, and has there been any suggestion in legal proceedings so far that the charities/organisations running ADEs are profiteering by paying workers sigificantly less than they could afford to pay them? Or is the "human rights" case here entirely divorced from the "simple economic realities" case?

    • mick :

      23 Jan 2014 6:59:46pm

      1 stella is making a very valid point about the inadequacies of an education sytem leading to poor work outcomes for special needs kids , don't stress to much tho , there goes the starship disability enterprize.,
      2 yes it is nice when people make informed comments unlike the "the alternative for many people with severe id is tv and subsistence poverty" that's stereotyping from the land of stats and cats in hats , opinions everyone, has them experience is only as good as your perspective allows it to be ,no ADES are not the only way pwd access work other than self employment that's either a stat gone loco crazy or a vested interest !!..........I thinks theyre be some Klingons on the starboard bow enterprize out...........

    • Heather :

      24 Jan 2014 9:41:48am

      When one receives the old age pension (whatever it's called now) at 65 (rising to 67) you are allowed to earn $250 per fortnight before they start taking some back I believe but do check this out.

      Many hope to continue working in their jobs part time to do this. However they are worried that employers will not allow them at that age nor part-time !

      It is expensive being disabled (or older) and the extra money is usually not for dinners out or lunch-a-lot but for extra equipment like new wheelchair, hoist or electric riser chair . The the gap for equipment is often $3500 or more and unlikely one can save that amount on a Pension.

      The pittance paid by the ADE's is shameful - must be $5 ph at least to cover cost of transport, drinks, lunch + dignity. AND yes where they also get a DSP !

    • Greg Killeen :

      24 Jan 2014 5:59:15pm

      I really appreciate the thought provoking comments. I also agree that it is totally inequitable to pay any person, regardless if they have a disability or not, $3 or less per hour. However, this is in conjunction with the DSP. I assume ADEs only pay people with disability low wages for various reasons I am unaware of, but I would like to throw some other scenarios into the discussion.

      I understand ADEs offer services to businesses that require piece work, such as packing, securing labels etc, I think the ADEs obtain this work either via contracts or tender, which is work that people without a disability would probably not be interested in.

      If ADEs paid award wages I think the cost of doing the piece work would be greater and businesses might consider ADEs too expensive and get the work done offshore. Like Sue, I would like to know what the net profit/loss is. And this may result in fewer jobs for people with disability. The ADEs provide an employment option for people with disability who otherwise may not be considered employable in open employment, or without government subsidies. Employment does enable people to be productive, decreases social isolation, obtains and maintains that friendship etc.

      DSP means testing includes a person's disability, income & assets and working under 30 hours per week. Employees with disability may also be eligible for the tax free Mobility Allowance of $89.10 or $124.70.

      If and ADE paid a person with an intellectual disability award wages for the tasks undertaken, it would affect the amount of DSP received, and may require the employee to pay income tax and lodging a tax return. If the ADE paid award wages and affected the DSP being received, how many people with intellectual disability would seek (or supported to choose) paid employment?

      The Federal Government implemented the "work for the dole" scheme, if it implemented a "work for the DSP" scheme, would there be any difference, particularly if the Federal Government gave the ADEs a wage subsidy for each employee with intellectual disability that was the equivalent to the DSP which was paid in wages? As the DSP single rate is $751.70 ($375.85 per week) tax-free. If a person with disability was employed 30 hours per week (the maximum DSP eligibility) it equals $12.53 per hour. Using Stella’s example of the BSWAT that includes the DSP payment, then if they person was assessed under the BSWAT at 30%, it equates to about $40 per hour. Much higher than the $16.90 per hour minimum wage. Plus the Mobility Allowance. Obviously there are benefits attached to being eligible for the DSP Concession Card, which people with disability are eligible for even if their income and assets results and a $2 per fortnight DSP, but, if a person is ineligible for a DSP the Mobility Allowance includes the Health Care Card.

    • Kelly J :

      30 Jan 2014 10:56:17am

      Wow, Sue, I've taken some time to think about your comments. I have to agree with you that this is quite likely not the first time this issue has been raised in the media, so you are correct in reminding me that Stella is not "starting the discussion" here. Maybe I should have said something more like "I appreciate that Stella is discussing this issue and bringing it before what could be a new audience." There most certainly are people reading this article who have not been part of the discussion for the last 30 years and surely that is a good thing.

      Thanks also for explaining in more detail to me how the ADE and DSP systems work. There's a proverb which says something like "even a fool with their mouth shut can appear wise" and I guess at times I would rather make a comment and appear foolish to some than keep my mouth shut. Even an uninformed comment that keeps the discussion going and encourages others to share their perspective, wisdom and knowledge can be helpful in the end.

      But Sue, what about pwd working in ADE's who are quite capable persons, but trapped in the system because they have not had the family or outside support / encouragement to enable them to think outside of that particular box? I know people in this situation and from reading the other comments on this article, it seems I am not alone. When people are consistently told from a young age that this is the only path available, it takes a great deal of gumption to choose a different way, not to mention battling the medical, educational and government systems that constantly put up roadblocks. If we're not raising the unfairness of the current system and bringing that before the general public and raising it with our elected government representatives, how will it ever change? I mean, I do understand that outpourings of uninformed emotion don't actually change things, but sometimes they can be a catalyst for change. When I look around at the society we live in and think about where the stories of vulnerable people being taken advantage of and abuse occurring often come from, it tends to be places where such people are placed in large groups together for the sake of the convenience of the rest of us. It is on that idealogical basis that I object to ADE's. Is it really impossible to change the way we value pwd so that they / their carers are not left with choosing between an ADE and "subsisting in poverty on the DSP and watching TV?"

  • Judas :

    21 Jan 2014 7:14:59pm

    Someone I know was bullied into doing this 'work' at a nursery in Dandenongs for $1 an hour. She had to catch a train and 2 buses and at the end walk up/down a 1 kilometre dirt track with bush all around.

    I was furious when I drove to collect her one day as the bushy track was lonely and dangerous for male or female on their own and she got frightened.

    I went in and tore strips of the employment person for allowing her to go to somewhere dangerous and $1 p.h. as it did not cover lunch, a drink and only just the bus fare.

    $4 a day is SLAVE labour I told employment agency how dare you. Australia is baying at the United Nations to stop Slave Labour in Pakistan but promotes it in Australia.

    Absolutely cut back on politicians salaries + freebies like round the world trips for local MP's. Too many politicians and Australian taxpayers cannot afford them with their super duper superannuation scheme.

  • amanda marx :

    21 Jan 2014 4:52:20pm

    thanks for posting this stella ... interesting to look at the difference in comments here and on the drum ...
    there's zero dignity in being paid less than $2 an hour mr fifield ... don't rip people off, don't devalue anyone, don't condescendingly confuse dignity with exploitive babysitting


  • mick :

    21 Jan 2014 2:26:52pm

    mandatory BSWAT testing for all politicians and government .....employees productivity and competency ,,,,, a new and improved method for avoiding recession and other economic slumps ,,,,we could call it the robin hood economic rationalisation model ,with the extra $s saved on pollies wages we could build a better more blingy glass house around Canberra,,,i call dibs on the megaphone when it comes to sarcastic laughter at the test results,,,,gee is that dignity like the wa premier who wants to kill sharks for swimming in their ocean or dignity like question and answer time in parliament ,,,,,, I know dig nit y dickie knee from hey hey its Saturdays little cousin ....another head on a stick.....

  • Chris F :

    21 Jan 2014 1:16:05pm

    I'm Gobsmacked!! Who invented this system & how on earth did it get passed as Law ? !? Plz - Don't take this the wrong way! I can't help thinking of the Traditional English nursery rhyme : See saw, Margery Door, Johnny has got a new master, he only gets paid a dollar a day because he can't work any faster. ... point being : were these ppl tripping or what??! (When they invented this.) ... There is NO Dignity in being treated with Utter Contempt.... even Volunteers get paid their costs (travel allowance & a Small food allowance.)

  • Ben H :

    21 Jan 2014 1:10:00pm

    Excellent article Stella, I have nothing to add other than this should not still be happening in Australia in 2014!!!
    The fact that it is proves there is something very wrong going on, and not enough politicians care enough about it to fix it.
    No surprise though, considering the current government's attitude to refugees and the NDIS!

  • Briggs :

    21 Jan 2014 12:38:18pm

    Saying that these workers get the pension too is OK until they fall in love and get married. Then the pension part of their "pay" is cut. What other job out there cuts the pay of there workers becasue they had the aduasity to fall in love get married??

    Also....if your mowing lawns in 35c heat you feel the same pain if your earning $16 an hour or $1 an hour. I dont see how compency has anything to do with it??

    • Lost Aspergian :

      24 Jan 2014 10:08:38am

      Sue and Kelly, perhaps you should realise what utter slavery this BSWAT is, and the first two letters of the acronym do stand for something that I won't repeat here. Put your selves in our position, and try and think how motivated you would be, when all you are offered is the pocket money you got when you were 5 years old, as wages for a weeks work. Sheltered workshops - ADE should be COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN!!!!

      Back in 1996 I tried one of these places in Parramatta, as I believed my work performance was not any slower then anyone elses. I am visually impaired, with moderate Asperger's Syndrome. When the assessment was done, they could only offer me $28 a fortnight - what a laugh! I can work at a normal speed, but having Asperger's means that one has to have their tasks clearly defined for their day, as those on the spectrum have issues with intuition, recognising non verbal communications, and conversation. In my case, it's wondering how much or little to say, and how much to look someone in the eye - not wanting to stare, but then again, not wanting to be rude.

      You two justifying those on a disability working for less is immoral and sickening. Why is their productivity even an issue, as it is less through no fault of their own. I know plenty of people who work in jobs with normal wages, but do very little. Is their productivity questioned? No, because they have all the nice social connections that us Aspergians nor handicapped don't. Why is then someone with a disability punished financially, because they have a disability?

      I agree with everything that Stella has said, and, no, I'm not an employee of Auntie if you ask, because even I have a bone to pick with the amount of coverage they give to asylum seekers. Idealistically, someone with a disability should get the DSP and a minimum full wage without any problems. When you live with a disability - even with all the benefits - you live with extra expenses - try and think about that for a moment. I mean, HELLO! I would like to have enough money for a mortgage and work toward owning my house too.

    • BenH :

      08 Feb 2014 4:26:32pm

      I know where you're coming from Lost Aspergian, I'm an Aspie too.
      Whilst my wife works full time in a well paid government job - where she works as hard as everyone else, and has earned and received several promotions, she gets all the support she needs and deserves. Why? She has CP and uses a wheelchair, so it's good for the "diversity stats" to show that they are supporting those with a visible disability.

      I worked for the same organization, at that stage merely with a diagnosis of Anxiety and Depression. Each time a promotion would come around I would miss out, would not get the support I needed from management or supervisors, and watched as others from my intake left in frustration, or received promotion above and ahead of me.

      After six years I'd had enough, and left at the level I'd started at.
      Two years after leaving (last year) I finally got my diagnosis of Asperger's.
      Six years is the longest I've lasted with any employer, the next closest is about 2 years.
      I've had months and years out of work in my life, and often would spend as long or longer out of work than I had in each previous job.
      I never manage to fit in with the cliques that form in workplaces, and am looked on as strange for not wanting to go out for drinks with the boys after work or on weekends, or join in gossip in the lunch room.
      All I want to do is get my work done, have lunch in peace and quiet and go home at the end of the day; apparently this makes me strange.

      I am ineligible for benefits, other than a paltry "carer allowance" as the carer for my disabled spouse; ironic, she can work full time with her physical and accepted disability, but my disability due to cognitive function is an impediment which only makes my life more difficult.
      Her income as my spouse means our combined income is too high for me to receive any benefits, other than the carer allowance, which is really reimbursement for money already spent as a carer.

      I've done the Centrelink and CES before it programs; when I had an misdiagnosed "mental illness", but neither those nor the volunteer programs, nor the DES ever provided me the help I really needed to get any worthwhile long term work or career prospects.
      At this stage with a stable marriage, and a supportive spouse I get by, and accept that at 41 this may be my blooming lot, maybe do some volunteer work, maybe look at some left of centre things like pets as therapy (we're in the process of adopting a retired greyhound), but the mainstream and the government services just leave those of us with differing attitudes to social skills (let alone social media and personal interaction) in the too hard basket.
      Hopefully one day things will change, but don't hold your breath.

Stay Connected


What's this Website About?

How Does this Site Work?


Best of abc.net.au

Crazy about bees

Crazy about bees (ABC RN - The Drawing Room)

The number of backyard beekeepers in Australia has doubled over the last seven years.

Get in Touch

Got a question or want to make a suggestion?