When Andy, a repatriated Cypriot, awoke from a coma after a car rammed into his motorcycle and then drove over him, he found he was disabled and could no longer speak Greek.

Twenty years later, he has been facing one problem after the other, with the services in Cyprus giving him a disability benefit on and off and sending important letters to the wrong address for three years, despite Andy – who does not want to give his last name –having contacted them on numerous occasions.

Andy, who lives in the Famagusta area, has been having problems since April 7, 2022, when he applied for a disability allowance.

He went to Meneou to be assessed as severely disabled by a five-doctor panel and was granted disability status on April 28, 2022.

There, he told doctors his savings amounted to about €5,000 and that his wife was a seasonal worker, employed only during the summer months.

He was then told he was entitled to both the minimum income EEE1 and a disability allowance and should apply at the Citizens Service Centre “round the corner”, which he did, providing all necessary documents.

Since then, his life has been hell. One day he is entitled to disability benefits, the next he should also apply for one of the EEE minimum income allowances, then he should drop one for the other, before being told he is entitled to both and then nothing at all.

Amidst all this confusion, Andy has sought legal advice.

“I have spoken to three lawyers in Paralimni, who will go nowhere near anything to do with EEE as you get no straight answers,” he said.

In search of finding his own answers – as calls and emails proved to no avail – Andy has had to travel back and forth to services, an extremely difficult task given his disabilities.

The Cyprus Mail contacted the welfare centre in Avgorou and was told that they were aware of his case, and he would have to wait his turn for his papers to be reviewed.

What Andy cannot understand is why his papers were still under review, since he had been granted disability status three years ago.

Furthermore, he wants to know why he was told he should drop his disability status and apply for the minimum income, if he wasn’t entitled to the latter in the first place.

Andy is still waiting for an answer to these questions and in the meantime has been living off meagre amounts friends and family can spare.

After the Cyprus Mail contacted the centre in Avgorou, Andy was notified that things were moving along and was asked to go in to collect €150, which he was given after a three-hour wait.

“After three hours of waiting, I am offered €150. Take it or leave it and that is it. A man from Afghanistan was laughing and said to me ‘I’m here to complain I’m only getting €200 and you, a Cypriot citizen, is getting a one off of €150. I’m so surprised and sorry for you’,” Andy recalled.

Things now are not clearer for Andy, who told the Cyprus Mail that confusion and vagueness continue to surround his case.

“Welfare is telling me I am not entitled to EEE1 minimum wage for a disabled person because my wife works. Why they said I was entitled, I don’t know,” he said, especially since he was asked to revoke the disability benefit in favour of the minimum income.

If those responsible don’t know, who can Andy ask?

Having been told he was entitled to disability benefits and EEE, then one or the other, Andy appealed and in June 2024 won the appeal and was presumably entitled to the minimum income as well.

But, of course, things did not end there.

“The people in Meneou (medical), although they agree I am severely disabled, said I am not entitled to the full amount as I only need a cane to walk!”

Andy suffers chronic pain due to his injuries: punctured lung and pancreas from broken ribs, broken arm and collarbone, nerve damage down his left arm and a paralysed hand, complications from head injuries, trouble balancing due to his shattered pelvis, spasms in his legs. This was followed by pneumonia and one of the implanted screws coming lose and threatening paralysis from the waist down if it touches the spine.

The last thing he needs is being sent back and forth by various departments.

“All I have noticed is all the departments involved do not speak to one another and I can see me being back in a wheelchair, paralysed, before anything is done,” he said.

The latest in his case is that “EEE again say that, although they have had my papers for three months, it is going to take at least another three to six months before anything is done, taking my initial application beyond three years.”

Andy’s efforts to get a clear picture of what he is entitled to and what he should do have ended in unanswered calls and emails.

After contacting the Cyprus Confederation of Disability Organisations (Kysoa), Andy was informed that he was not entitled to one of the EEE categories, but was for severe disability and should contact the department for social inclusion of people with disabilities.

No surprise that the department did not answer Andy’s calls or emails.

“I am very confused […] I still don’t know what I am entitled to,” a bewildered Andy told the Cyprus Mail.

“I can only hope by sharing my ordeal the authorities will get their act together and will help make life easier for myself and others.”