New Zealand Adult Experience with WINZ?

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AngryAngryAngry
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

Joined: 11 Feb 2016
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 496
Location: New Zealand

07 Oct 2017, 11:18 pm

Just wondering if anyone can provide some info on their experiences with WINZ as an adult.
I know they have a program in place for youth with Aspergers.
And I have had experiences (bad) with them, but this was before I knew that I suffered from AS.

Just wondering if they treat you better once they know you have Aspergers?



B19
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Jan 2013
Gender: Female
Posts: 9,993
Location: New Zealand

08 Oct 2017, 1:38 am

I can't speak from experience re disclosure to WINZ, although I am not very confident that they would know anything much beyond the tv news depiction here on TVNZ and others, which is always of a young male child having a very violent meltdown. Just telling them you are on the spectrum could possibly result in them "tagging" your file as a potentially violent client, and there is evidence that they make a lot of decisions for very superficial reasons. Tread very carefully with them please.

My own experience of Winz was astoundingly repugnant. I was receiving treatment for cancer and on the waiting list for two hip operations once cleared of the cancer. My GP made a referral to WINZ because I couldn't work then and was eligible for a sickness benefit support payment - Winz told me to look for a job instead. At the time, I couldn't walk up stairs unaided, was in my sixties and very frail with other serious health problems.

So you will understand that I may be biased experience, though I have nothing but contempt for them in their current ethos and practice. They carry out the will of their political masters, and the orders are to deny people as much as possible it seems to me.