http://www.livejournal.com/users/rickybuchanan/52501.html
Dear Everybody,
** This message is very important **
This is not a copied letter which I am just mass-forwarding - I wrote it
myself, off my own bat. I urge you to read it carefully and to follow
the link I have included further down the email.
The Australian government is currently proposing to change the
disability support pension (DSP) which supports many Australians with
disabilities including myself. If I did not have the disability pension
available to me, I would not be able to live in the community as I do
now - this is VERY serious stuff for Australians with a disability.
The proposed changes to the DSP will plunge 60,000 - 120,000 of
Australia's most disadvantaged citizens into deeper poverty than they
already experience. It could also make a significant number of
Australians more severely disabled by forcing them to work when their
bodies cannot cope with it physically.
Those of you who know me, Ricky Buchanan, personally will know that the
proposed changes don't affect me at the current time because I am
presently not able to work at all. But I hope to improve in the future,
and if I do manage to get somewhat better then the
last thing I will
want is to relapse back to serious disability because the Australian
Government has forced me back to work before my body is healthy enough
to deal with it!
A dear friend of mine, Ken Davis, who is himself both an occupational
therapist and a person with ME/CFS like myself, has written a
wonderful "Dear John" letter and created a petition to oppose this
awful legislation. Please read the letter, consider the facts, and if
you share our deep concerns about this upcoming legistlation, then sign
the petition. You will find this information at:
http://www.life-directions.net/dsp.php
If you live outside of Australia, please still consider signing the
petition. It will help to show the government that the international
community is not happy with them, and it will show Australians with a
disability that you care about them.
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
