Published: 19 December 2022
Emerge Australia’s CEO, Anne Wilson, spoke with the ABC’s Fiona Blackwood about how greater access to government supports like Medicare, NDIS and the disability pension were needed for patients living with invisible illnesses like ME/CFS and long COVID
“Because those diseases are classified as diseases rather than a disability, it is very difficult for people to access things like disability support pension [or the] NDIS. These diseases need to be classified so that those people who are the most severe and are disabled don’t have barriers to entry put before them,” she said. “You try to tell someone who is bed-bound, and has been for maybe up to 10 years, that they are not disabled. It’s just ridiculous.”
