The DSP changed my life. Immediately, I had enough money to pay for medication, that was much cheaper. I had money each week to eat more nutritious food and even occasionally go to a movie or see a band, like my non-disabled peers. I could pay to connect the internet so I could finish my university studies and I stopped ending up in hospital so often.

As my health stabilised, I also found regular part-time work that paid better, was more reliable and my employers were prepared to make the adaptations I needed. The amount of DSP I received dropped as my wages grew - often down to $50 a fortnight. When I got sick again and had to stop work, which was the pattern of my disability for the next decade, the DSP was there to catch me, so I could pay my rent and afford bills, food and medication. Because I worked at all, I was subject to regular stringent reviews of my eligibility that were stressful and difficult - each time, the verdict was the same. I was still sick, but had found flexible work at the limit of my capabilities.

My story is not the usual story. Australia is at the bottom of OECD rankings for employment of people with disabilities. Even the public service recently hit a new low, with the lowest employment of people with disabilities in two decades. The vast majority of people with disabilities live in poverty and aren't able to access the job market; discrimination, a lack of flexibility and access, and basic accommodations are all barriers that remain.

I finally got off the DSP, not due to any magical policy change by the government, but because science found better medications to treat my disease. I could work full-time for the first time in years due to the part-time work and DSP support I'd had while being sick. If the current harsh DSP rules had applied, I would have become well again with a decade lost from work and study, making getting back to full-time employment even further out of reach.

Since then, the DSP has become even more difficult to get, and the availability of jobs for people with disabilities has become harder. Instead of being a support payment that encourages people to work, the DSP in its current form actively discourages anyone with a disability to move in and out of work as I did.