Adel al-Shuraifi told he is fit for work by Centrelink but later ruled permanently blind by a tribunal

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

A severely vision impaired man who was told he was fit for work by Centrelink but later ruled permanently blind by a tribunal has won a two-year fight to get on the disability support pension.

Adel al-Shuraifi’s battle could have been over after a year but was prolonged when the agency took the rare step of sending his case to the top tier of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in a last-ditch bid to deny him the $466.70-a-week payment.

Al-Shuraifi, who has been on Newstart since 2017 because he could no longer keep working as a labourer, had his disability pension application twice denied by Centrelink, first in September 2017.

Government underreported sick and disabled people on Newstart by 80,000 Read more

But when the AAT overturned those decisions, judging al-Shuraifi as permanently blind and automatically eligible for the pension, the agency chose to appeal.

The second tier of the AAT heard al-Shuraifi was diagnosed with the degenerative condition bilateral optic atrophy, which left him with “very blurry” vision.

Both his lawyer and Centrelink did not argue he was permanently blind, as the first tier of the AAT ruled when it found him automatically eligible for the pension.

At issue during the hearings, held in Brisbane, was whether al-Shuraifi’s impairment was severe enough that he still met the criteria to get the pension.

The tribunal member Deborah Mitchell was told al-Shuraifi could no longer drive, did not go grocery shopping because he could not see items on the shelf and that he sometimes tripped because he could not see obstacles in his path.

While he was able to catch a bus, he would wave down each one that came by as he could not see the numbers from a distance, his occupational therapist said.

Al-Shuraifi told the tribunal his sight had deteriorated since April 2017 and said that sunlight made it feel like his eyes were burning.

“It’s always getting worse. It’s never stable. It’s always getting worse and worse,” al-Shuraifi said.

His lawyer told the tribunal he was unable to read documents during the hearing.

To gain access to the disability support pension without undertaking 18 months of work training, a person must obtain at least 20 points on one of the impairment tables and prove they cannot work at least 15 hours a week. Their condition must also be fully diagnosed and stabilised.

Centrelink argued al-Shuraifi’s vision impairment was worth only 10 points and relied on a consultant ophthalmologist’s report that was provided to the tribunal.

As is common, the specialist did not examine al-Shuraifi, but used his medical records to state that his impairment was only moderate and that he could have worked at least 15 hours a week.

Centrelink wrongly denies disability support pension to severely ill woman Read more

But Mitchell accepted written evidence from al-Shuraifi’s ophthalmologist, who has treated him since 2014, and his occupational therapist, who also fronted the tribunal.

She did not find al-Shuraifi’s sight impairment was so bad as to find him legally blind, but judged it “severe”.

“The evidence demonstrates that the Respondent’s vision impairment condition is deteriorating and there is no further treatment that will assist to improve the condition,” Mitchell wrote in her decision.

Until he was granted the pension by the tribunal this week, al-Shuraifi was among the record-high 280,000 sick and disabled people on Newstart with a “partial capacity to work”.

Guardian Australia last week revealed that official statistics have underreported the number of “partial capacity to work” Newstart recipients for years.

A Senate estimates hearing was told this month that there was a 48% increase in disability support pension appeals to the AAT in the past financial year.

Do you have a story? luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com