The Trials And Triumphs Of Navigating Employment With A Disability

From a young age, children are often asked one common question: what would you like to be when you grow up? The typical responses being a firefighter, a teacher, a doctor. When I was asked this question, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to work with children. In fact, one of my earliest memories in regard to a career path was seeing the St. Jude’s Hospital commercials on television. Being so young I did not know what that particular job was called, so my response was simply “I want to work with kids who have cancer.”

Growing up, my mother always instilled the importance of getting a good, well-rounded education. Having a disability, she knew that certain things were going to be more of a challenge for me, so having a degree and various experiences under my belt would afford me the opportunity to provide for myself while helping others. I decided to major in social work and quickly realized how many different types of jobs, and the countless number of ways that you are in fact able to help others within the profession.

I was so excited about the possibilities ahead of me, and still young enough where I felt as if I was in a sense, invincible. I use that word very lightly, but that tenacity, fight, and fire has made me and continues to make me who I am today. I went on to receive my Master’s Degree in Social Work in New Orleans, Louisiana and while I would not trade the experiences I had there for anything, I learned very quickly that I was anything but invincible. I got my first taste of true discrimination, of being seen by people in power as not much more than a liability, it was a true test of how I valued myself and the work that I wanted to do.

This was also one of the first times where I saw the power of people coming together, standing behind me ensuring that my needs were met when I was not able to meet them on my own. Overcoming my struggles in Louisiana, and graduating with my master’s degree. I decided to move to Colorado where I finally got a job as a social worker in a hospital, but I was not aware that the director of the program did not know that I was in a wheelchair. I was quickly made aware of this when I received a phone call telling me that they could not, in fact, offer me the position because they were “protecting me from the clientele” even as I write this almost a years later, I still feel the sting and emotion of that situation as if it were yesterday.

I often deal with what you would call “unemployment guilt”. That is, feeling guilty for not working a typical nine-to-five job. Due to my disability, there are additional challenges that I need to take into account in order to complete the activities of daily living. I need the aid of a personal care attendant to complete some of those daily tasks. I have medical coverage for personal care. However, the coverage is based on income. That means if I make too much at a job, then eligibility for the needed medical care can be revoked.

This can place people in a very difficult situation trying to balance so many things that other people take for granted. It is hard people ask what do you do for work when you are not doing what you would love to be doing, and come to terms with the fact that sometimes things are out of your control.

For two years, I had the incredible opportunity to serve as an AmeriCorps member mentoring in tutoring children from elementary school to the middle school level. I never thought that I would be working in a school setting, it truly taught me how versatile social work can be even though I was not working as a social worker. Having the opportunity to work with those children, and alongside the other members of the organization, made me push myself because I wanted to prove to myself that everyone that may have doubted me in the past, that I was more than capable, and that they did not have the power to take away anything that I wanted to achieve.

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I continue to have hope that if I continue to persevere and find different avenues to put myself out there and show others what I am capable of, it will pay off. I believe that if people have a clear understanding of the roadblocks that people with disabilities can face, there will be a time when obstacles such as employment, and assistant waiver restrictions will not be an issue.

When you find that sense of fulfillment in doing something that you love, whatever that looks like for you to continue to fill your cup and find a sense of purpose. Everyone goes through hills and valleys, periods of time things are not going exactly as you had planned or might have envisioned. We are often our own toughest critic. As hard as it may be at times continue to keep pushing forward because the road may get rocky, there are always different paths to get to your desired goal.