Sadie, I hope the system gets better for your next half (and even more I'm sure!) of life. The situation is not much better here in the old colony lol Though I am grateful of receiving anything at all for my 'disability', it is barely enough to pay my ultra-mega-expensive private health insurance (which I need at gold standard, or it would not cover psychiatric hospitalisation) and a coffee every couple of days. Sure, I would get more under full on disability payments (though not much at all), but I never tried as I thought I'd be able to do some work given I have no physical ailments outside of those derived by my mental conditions. But for one way or the other I have been unemployed for 90percent of the time almost, and this does not come only with economic deficit...but social. The first people ask me here when first meeting me is: what do you do for work? And not having any apparent disability (the strange paradox of psychosocial disabilities) people look down at me as a bane of society, or a pain in my partner's ass...Partner being another issue, as having declared my relationship, my payments even get halved as soon as my partner earns more than a bare part-time level income every fortnight. And no, for this I'm not grateful for my country's system...is pure bullshit. Add the fact that my partner has happily supported me but feels the pressure of doing so and remind me daily to find a job (something I am trying to do but seem to be failing at despite having honours and master's degree in very desireble fields.. but that's a story for another day). In conclusion Sadie, I understand. And still I don't have it as hard given that I do not have a family (child and disabled partner), and physical problems added onto my mental ones. But we can do this!!! I hope...Can we?