People on the disability support pension are caught in a "no man's land" between risking losing support and being exploited at work, an inquiry has heard.
On Tuesday, the Disability Royal Commission investigating impediments to finding employment heard from 47-year-old Yuri Sianski and his father Edward.
The hearing was told Yuri Sianski, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, has spent the past 25 years looking for a decent job.
He told commissioners he studied mechanical engineering at TAFE after school and had completed a bartending course and a cleaning certificate, but could not find stable work.
"I spent two years looking for a cleaning job and there just wasn't any," he said.
Mr Sianski told the hearing he felt his son was exploited when he did find limited work.
"I think they realised that Yuri was on a disability support pension and that he couldn't earn more than a certain amount," he said.
He said mental illness often "ebbs and flows" and the system was up against people like Yuri who could have to go through the "huge task" of renegotiating his pension.
"On the other hand he's also open to exploitation," he said, describing the situation as being caught in no-man's land.
Edward Sianski said that while the government provided accommodation and financial and medical support, there was nothing to help in the area of work.
"Yuri represents many, many people who are in this situation. They have a mental illness, they are put on a disability support pension and then they are forgotten about," he said.
"Yuri is not asking for full-time work, he is just asking for the opportunity to do a few hours per day somewhere at a job that gives him some kind of satisfaction."
Seventeen witnesses are giving evidence to the week-long hearing of the Disability Royal Commission.
