‘She’s a narcissistic autistic’: The bitter feud between a disabled woman and an advocate

Thursday, 10 April 2025

Chelsea Taylor, who has intellectual disabilities, says a man acting as her advocate charged her $2616 for help with navigating benefits.

The advocate, Nick Stoneman, said the fees were for services rendered and agreed upon by Taylor.

He said he is legally entitled to charge fees for his services and is still awaiting payment.

A disabled woman says a man she trusted to help her navigate Work and Income benefits charged her $2616 for his services over 13 days.

The navigator says all his clients are aware of his fees and he is still awaiting payment.

Christchurch woman Chelsea Taylor, who has autism, ADHD, and reactive attachment disorder, contacted the NZ Disability Advisory Trust (NZDAT) in January, requesting assistance with MSD.

She had befriended NZDAT co-founder Nick Stoneman on Facebook two years earlier, knowing of him as an advocate for autistic and neurodiverse people.

Stoneman is also the chairperson of Kirk Disability Sector, a sector of the Labour Party representing the 25% of New Zealanders with a disability.

In a Letter of Engagement dated January 27, NZDAT thanked Taylor for choosing the registered charitable trust as her service navigators, pointing out they “do not make a profit for any work that we do”.

“In order to continue our work in the community we do charge fees for our service… We understand not everyone is able to pay these fees up front and are happy to work with you to come up with a payment plan, so we may be able to continue to support you without putting you out of pocket.”

Failure to meet obligations, such as “withholding fee payment, may result in service termination”, the letter said.

The letter said initial and ongoing general service meetings (per hour or part thereof) cost “$175 for one/$230 for two disability service navigators attending, these fees also apply to Zoom Meetings”.

Taylor said she signed the letter but, because of her intellectual disability, didn't fully understand she would be charged.

Taylor, who was homeless in January, took up an offer to move in with Stoneman.

She said it was after moving in on February 3 that Stoneman requested payment for his services as a disability navigator.

“I’ve had other advocates and they never charged. But I had already signed the papers.”

Taylor said she privately told CCS, the organisation which holds her disability support funds, not to release any money.

Invoices sent from NZDAT to CCS Disability Action, show the trust requested $2616 from January 29 to February 10.

Invoices ranged from $175 for a “disability service navigator working on basic client interaction with MSD over housing needs basic benefit maintenance” to $350 for a service navigator “working on client’s behalf completing forms, emails and phone calls”.

The last date listed, February 10, is when Taylor said she was “kicked out” of Stoneman’s home for breaching a “temporary boarding agreement”. She paid $356 for a week’s rent.

Taylor said she was speaking out about her experience in hopes of raising awareness.

A CCS spokesperson said the amount invoiced from NZDAT would come out of Taylor’s personal Enabling Good Lives budget.

“Chelsea didn’t provide us with approval to pay the invoices from her funding. We did not release any funds to this trust, because Chelsea did not approve these costs,” the spokesperson said.

Speaking to Stuff, Stoneman first said he couldn’t confirm whether he acted as Taylor’s navigator or talk about his responsibilities as “all our clients are entitled to confidentiality”.

But he later said he was not Taylor’s navigator and the duties were carried out by other trust staff.

“We have professional standards, and I would immediately object to doing any work for anyone who is living under my roof,” Stoneman said.

“Staff were doing the work… the entire period of time, she was being charged fees for every bit of work that was being done, and she knew it.”

He said emails that contained his signature, from NZDAT to CCS, were sent by other trust staff, and matters to do with compensation would be before the disputes tribunal.

“We're legally entitled to charge fees for the work we do and we point that out to all our clients when they sign up with us.”

Stoneman, who is also autistic, said he’s at the “very mild” end of the spectrum, different from Taylor, who is “vindictive”.

“She's a narcissistic autistic, and she won't ever change. As far as I'm concerned, we didn't do the dirty on her… We were the organisation that tried to help and she walked all over us. She was so very ungrateful and she is legally withholding fees from us.”

The Ministry of Social Development confirmed Stoneman was Taylor’s agent, contacting MSD “on several occasions, over approximately one week, beginning on January 29 when Chelsea first told us he was her agent”.

“He applied on Chelsea’s behalf for her to receive one-off payments, such as food and clothing grants, and other payments such as the accommodation supplement,” Blair Mckenzie, Regional Commissioner - Canterbury said.

Mckenzie urged anyone who is asked for money in exchange for assistance applying for Work and Income benefits, to contact MSD so it can be investigated.

It is an offence under Section 292 of the Social Security Act to demand or accept from any applicant for a benefit any fee or other consideration for procuring or endeavouring to procure the grant of a benefit.

“We are reviewing the information you have provided,” Mckenzie said.