Disability Caucus Open Thread 6/1/16: Trying to Be Included in a System That Wants No Part of You
Most of us who have disabilities live on fixed incomes of some sort. And I'm willing to bet many of those same folks tried to do as I have: Got college degrees, tried to find work and at the end of the day, none of it really ever worked out. I honestly haven't had a single interview in almost 3 years. Maybe it's more than that now. Frankly I'm at the point where I no longer give a damn and I'm sure I'm not alone.
The worst part isn't the fact that we're excluded outright, but the fact that so many, especially businesses, try to keep up appearances with illusions of inclusion where there actually is none. Businesses brag all the time about how they see so much potential in people with disabilities. Lies. All of it. The only thing they see the potential in is the exploitation of people with disabilities.
That's why I myself have given up on employment for the most part. These days I do odd photo and video archiving jobs because IT is all but dead despite all the talking points saying otherwise.
So what do we do about inclusion? Better yet, is it even worth the trouble?
See ya around,
Aspie
Comments
As we mentioned previously, a guaranteed basic income would
eliminate the desperation and the need to grovel, which would be such a gigantic improvement. But even if you have enough money to live on, people still need things to do and want to feel needed.
Do you think even if you were "able," there would be no jobs in IT? That's odd, because yes, they sure do say otherwise.
I think there are a lot of jobs that can be modified, a lot more than they admit. Tons of office jobs can be done at home, but TPTB don't want to give up close supervisory control. And they're really just terrible supervisors. My last hospital transcription job was like that. I eventually worked at home doing hospital transcription for other hospitals, because my hospital refused to let me work at home.
One of my sisters looked forever for a cashier job and they would not hire her because she could not stand for her entire shift. She could have sat on a high stool-type chair. But NObody would give her a job. It sounded like she interviewed for over 100 cashier jobs. They all insisted that standing 8 hours was a job requirement. Why? Have you ever been in line at the store and thought, "It's good all the cashiers are standing, I'd think they were slackers if they were sitting on stools"?
Probably all jobs could be divided in half, two people working 20 hours per week. Some people could work four hours per day who can't work 8 hours per day. But usually someone in Payroll doesn't want to be bothered with double the paychecks, even though these days it's probably just pushing a computer button.
I think if we go back to the first suggestion, a guaranteed basic income for every American, then the rest might sort themselves out. Because if people are no longer desperate, then if employers are not accommodating, they will find themselves without workers. I think only in a world where there are more jobs than job seekers will you find significant employer cooperation.
So I have no solutions, just thinking.
What would you do in an ideal world? Since you trained for IT, is that because you love it or because you thought job prospects were good? Would you like to create new software or advanced security systems or...?
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I like to program things, yes. I also like maps.
I actually did a bit of GIS work a few years ago. It wasn't much, just plotting points on a digital map and then adding in structural information represented by the points and lines. Still, I learned a lot about infrastructure that way. Problem is you have to have a bachelor's degree just to get an entry level job in that. Funny to think my supervisors saw me as their top guy then.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Then if you had the basic income and college was free and
employers would work with you, you could go get that degree and then get a job doing what you love. It seems like the kind of thing that could be done at home, they could give you a project to work on that could even be done part-time.
We SO need things like college to be affordable again!!
Wasn't there a time when, rather than letting employers pay low wages for the disabled, they paid regular wages but the government picked up some of the tab?
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Lucked Out
Hi, Aspie. Thank you for starting this Disability Caucus series.
I'm extremely fortunate to have had a job pretty much fall into my lap that works well for me. I deal with severe hyperacusis, a collapsed tolerance to sound, among other things, and had been in the state vocational rehab system until my condition worsened to the point that there was no way possible I could deal with the noise of an office setting and I was dropped. Or so I thought. One day a few years later, out of the blue, I received a phone call from my very nice former counsellor, saying that an opening had come up that made her think of me. The upshot was that I interviewed for and was hired by a university Special Ed department to do very part-time work from home. (My boss posted the job with the local rehab office, hoping to fill the position with someone who was disabled/needed to work from home. Not exactly the norm. . . ) That was over a decade ago now. It's not all that much money, and it's only during the academic year, but it helps to augment my SSDI pittance. Plus, it's work that I feel good about and the people I deal with (remotely) are great and appreciate my help, which is always nice. I feel very, very fortunate to have landed this job.
I got help getting a job with the Feds
I was partially disabled coming out of military service a long time ago, so I was awarded extra points towards a Federal job, which I took with the Postal Service, and I worked with them until I retired from the Postal Service at 55 years of age with over 30 years of combined USPS and Army service. Perhaps there is still a way to get help for you with employment through the Federal Government system. I hope so, and may it all work out for you.
You may not get your dream job with the Feds, but you may get a decent paycheck for a decent job, and a road to retirement from them. Things could be worse, as I'm sure you know.
Good luck to you.
Be a Friend of the Earth, cherish it and protect it.
I knew someone who did IT for the Social Security administration
According to him, there was a whole unit where the employees were all blind people.
Blind is almost a special category of disability.
My mother has had Dxed age-related macular degeneration for at least two decades. She received appropriate treatments, but things were too far gone to benefit from newer therapies. She got a Special ticket, Library of Congress (I think) has a mandate (underfunded, of course) to give free andioboooks and audiomagazines to blind citizens. In Kentucky, at least, that is handled through the State Library in Frankfort. She gets a free player, and free media tapes which get returned free by USPS. When she dies, some funds will be sent to support that program. My mother is unaware of how blind she is. And has learned to love bodice-rippers, not her old style atall.
Anyway, mobility, sight and hearing disabilities are recognized. The invisible ones, not so much. Accommodation on an individual basis. Or not. Even wheelchair access is a problem, years after ADA implementation. Try using a baby stroller in not-so-public spaces.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Germany recognizes my atypical HF autism as a 50% disability.
Unfortunately I waited till almost the end of professional life to apply for it.
I think I have always lived around HF autistics.
Most are very interesting people, even brilliant in their interest. I see them as different-minded, I may blend into that spectrum, too. And odd aunts and uncles and cousins who probably fit have been around since expository writing began.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Tomorrow
Stop by the Friday Open Thread.
I put together a run down of a care giver day with an ALS patient.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -