the fallacy of disability accommodations at work
A rant, again. I've been navigating (un)employment as a disabled person for 6 years. There are a lot of public disability programs for adults in my country but most of them are inefficient, to be honest. I'm so tired of being swung between programs and counselors. You spend 8 months filling forms and proving you're worth it and having meetings with a million people and then nothing happens. You can't get a job because of your disability, but you don't qualify for financial aid because they say you could work with reasonable accommodations. Of course, to get these accommodations you need to fill a 20 pages form, to be oriented to another service after 6 months, (but you can't get to this service without an formal orientation), you wait 6 months again to get a meeting with a Joe Careerman who have absolutely no idea of what a disability is. You know, Joe Careerman have been promoted to counselor for disabled people after years of being a white collar in sport organisations (true story). Then you spend another 6 month convincing said Joe Careerman that no, a job as a waiter is not suitable for your illnesses, neither a job as a welder (again, true story). Last thing Joe Careerman can give you is a 6-month unpaid internship as a seamstress. You agree to the unpaid internship, what else could you do? You're afraid of losing the privileges of being in the system. You quit after 3 hours because it's a sewing job that fucked up your neck and elbows ten years ago. Then you're terrified of being broke so you accept a supported employment where you do the job of a regular employee for a third of the pay, plus you get mandatory tutoring with another corporate asshole who tell you you that limitations doesn't exist and you need to think positive. After a few months, you cry yourself to sleep and you decide to quit, once again.
Once again, you ask for disability benefits but they say no, you're not disable enough. You try one more time, they have you meet a physician who tells you:
"well, you can walk. If you had only one leg, or one arm, we could help you, but looking at you I can't see anything wrong".
So you ask, again and again, for disability benefits, because you're terrified and you can't get a fucking job, you disclose your mental and physical health. They ask about how you shower, how you take a shit, or how many times a day you cry. Finally, they agree that you may be experiencing substantial and lasting restriction of access to employment. No shit. You get monthly benefits for two years. In the second year, you get some of your spark back, so you get an internship in another city. Attending work costs as much as it pays, you lose your financial aid, but you're happy you can work. The premises are labeled disability-friendly, but you're not allowed any accommodation and they count how many time you go to pee everyday. When it gets unbearable, when you can't stand your 3+ hours of public transportation everyday, you quit. Then you get another job. Surprise, there's a training tomorrow 60 kms away, transportation fees not covered. You get there but there is, actually, no one there to train you. You're alone and you get to learn your job by doing it. You learn so well that you uncover fraud for a few thousands bucks, paid off by clients (mostly poor, black and disabled population). Then, you quit. You get another job, at the factory. It busts your neck so bad you physician suggests you should get another job because this one could leave you more disabled, permanently. Well, you quit.
Back to the unemployment office, you wait 4 month to get to a counselor who tells you she's not qualified for disabled people. Office jobs don't exist anymore, she says. She gives you a formal objective that you need to meet otherwise you're fired from unemployment (sic). The objective written in your file is: get an office job. Shit. She tells you to wait for a qualified counselor. You wait 4 other month to get a meeting notice. You attend the meeting and it's another woman not qualified for disability employment. You try to learn about your rights by yourself, you get to a training session and meet a non-disabled lady who gives a pep talk about how you should think positive. Disability is an opportunity, she says. But no, no, they don't cover training, or transportation, or accommodation. Only thing they can do is get you to a training session titled "how to think positive when you're disabled". Nice lady warns you against disability benefits. You shouldn't ask for financial help, even if you need it, you'd feel better if you worked, she said.
This is a fucking fuckery. All these counselors paid by our taxes are clowns and parasites. The employment landscape is built to keep you out of it, but you should always keep a smile and trust the system. Don't forget to think positive.
That's it for today's post. Of course, all of this is true. Yes, I know some of them are good, no, I didn't get to meet the good ones in my unemployment career. For comments or subsequent rants, you can always send me an email!