Harry, 72, went to the local office of the Department of Social Development in New Plymouth last month to report his landlord's rent increase and ask for his housing benefit to be adjusted, but that didn't go well.
Despite carrying a 1.3-meter walking stick, a safety vest and black goggles, the MSD employee asked him for his driver's license for identification purposes.
“I showed my Gold Card photo ID and I have a Total Mobility Card. I showed that and he said no, I need your driver's license,” he said.
“My first reaction was, you've got to be kidding me. Who the hell would give me a driver's license?”
He said he told the man that he had given him the letter from his landlord, with his name and address and his SuperGold card with his photo on it.
“Do I need anything else? Oh, he said. Well, we need a permit. He was kind of incredulous and made some comments about ID and stuff,” he said.
“I said, 'Well, you got it,' and he reluctantly took it, accepted it and looked at them both.”
Finally, Harry said he laughed about his experience.
However, he was concerned about the government's announcement on Thursday to cut most of Whaikaha's funding and instead transfer responsibility for delivering support services to MSD.
“Lord, have mercy on the disabled community because there is no one who is trained to deal with such severe disabilities. You know we are talking about people with motor disabilities, speech disabilities, wheelchair users,” he told Checkpoint.
The government is also freezing funding for housing, including the Enabling Good Lives program, which aims to give people with disabilities more say in support services.
Harry volunteers for the program and is angry about the government's decision.
“I'm devastated, absolutely devastated. Because I've spent the last two years and a bit working on making Good Lives Taranaki happen and we've been telling people that this program will help them take back control.
“A lot depends on getting individual financing and what they can do with the money when they get it, how they can improve their lives and their standard of living and how they can get ahead and live a good life.”
MSD says 'sorry'
The Ministry of Social Development said in a statement to Checkpoint that it regretted the incident.
“Given Harry’s experience at our Work and Income office, this should not have happened. We are truly sorry,” said Gloria Campbell, Regional Commissioner for Social Development, Taranaki Region.
Campbell said the SuperGold Card should have been accepted from the start.
“The stick was put on the bench and the person at the reception didn't see it because they were focused on Harry. They immediately apologized to Harry.
“We would like to apologise to Harry again if it would be helpful to him. Our staff training includes a package to help them understand the views and experiences of our customers.”
The Ministry of Social Development indicated that it wanted to convince clients of Disability Support Services that they do not have to come to the MSD for Work and Income offices to receive their services.
“Disability Support Services is being established as a separate business unit within MSD, separate from Work and Income,” said Melissa Gill, associate director of Organizational Assurance and Communication.
“For individuals with disabilities receiving DSS, their point of contact will continue to be their caregivers – their NASC, host or Enabling Good Lives site. MSD’s relationship will be with the caregivers.”