Thread by @inside_cupboard

I don’t like talking about how hard things are, because I have also been conditioned by the system to think myself a burden.
However, it’s important to me to add my voice to the many people speaking out about the reality of disability & poverty in this country #BTPM

https://twitter.com/happynacho73/status/1581801448232218626

And my reality is that the lack of systemic support for those of us with degenerative conditions/chronic illnesses/invisible disabilities meant that I stayed in an abusive relationship with my ex carer for 2 yrs after he first put his hands on my throat, bc I didn’t know

How I’d survive without him. The system keeps disabled ppl vulnerable to & locked in cycles of abuse where our daily care & ability to keep existing is completely dependent on the person who is abusing us.
And it’s not like the government doesn’t know this, yet they choose to

Keep the system this way.
I was only able to get free of that situation bc I have a brother who cares & moved into my property, & I had extensive therapy, but even then it was years before I was strong enough to actually leave him. The lack of support after leaving a DV situation

Leaves many victims locked in cycles where they return to their abusers bc the choice is between conditional/manipulative/abusive support or no support at all.
The only reason I’ve survived this long is bc of my brother’s help, but he’s stuck on jobseeker bc the government don’t

Recognize or support degenerative or dynamic disabilities, and even though he has formal diagnosis he can’t afford the treatments he needs to stabilize his conditions enough to qualify for DSP or NDIS. So he feels like a burden bc he can’t contribute as much to bills/food etc, &

I feel like a burden bc he’s stuck on jobseeker acting as my carer while dealing with his own disabilities & no systemic support.
Our pets eat better than we do at this point bc it’s my responsibility to look after them & we can technically survive on beans & rice, even if that

Means we’re constantly in & out of hospital with infections, flares & other things exacerbated by what is now chronic malnutrition.
Fresh fruit & veggies are but a dream if I’m in too much pain to garden, which has been most of the time bc I’m rationing meds & can’t afford the

Medical treatments I need to keep my conditions somewhat stable.
I can’t remember a day I’ve woken up not in excruciating pain & financial stress. I’m on hardship payments for all of my bills, but bc prices are going up the amount I owe just gets higher, it’s like throwing coins

At a mountain.
I’m so worn down & broken by the system I don’t even have the energy to fight for my right to exist safely in public as an immune compromised person.
Most of the time I just hide at home bc the abuse I get for wearing a respirator is too much & I haven’t been able

To afford the therapy I need to heal properly after escaping DV. One session a fortnight is grossly insufficient for treating complex PTSD, but that’s all I can afford even with the Medicare rebate so I’m just treading water trying to survive.

Betrayed doesn’t begin to explain

How I feel about how @AustralianLabor have treated the impoverished & disabled since gaining power. They used our stories while in opposition & promised ‘no one left behind’ & now continue the cruel & punitive policies that are killing us.
I was desperate enough for any support

That I’m ashamed to say I believed their rhetoric, and that someone who leaned so much on the story of his disabled mother would actually listen to disabled people about how the system as it is now is making us far sicker than we need to be & killing us.
But, they have proven

That they don’t care. They & their supporters view the politics that affects people’s lives as a football game. They only care about winning. They only care about us when they can use us as pawns to gather sympathy & support, or prop us up as inspiration porn.

I no longer believe that failing us is a failure of the system, at this point it’s pretty safe to say it’s a design function. They keep us desperate & in horrible poverty bc it suits them & they choose to. The cruelty is the point #BTPM

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#BTPM
@ArtistAffame @criprights @kristin8X @AusUnemployment @PWDAustralia