“You’re employed? Isn’t that wonderful!?!”
So, Connie is talking to lady from Dept. of Human Services today at the Autism Walk. Connie is asking her about therapies and such for adults with Cerebral Palsy, well, me. I feel ok, but I’m slowly losing range of motion and my back is curving slightly more as time goes on. I list a bit to the left…or right? Anyway, we’ve heard warm water (pool) therapy is available but we cannot find information. Connie had started with a lady from United Cerebral Palsy and she deflected to DHS. (I like UCP, but they haven’t done a thing for me since I was in 6th grade in Florida. They did use me as a local poster gimp in the lat ’70s in Galesburg for the short-lived UCP telethons. Hey, MDA has Jerry Lewis and we had John Ritter. Nice guy, meant well, but really???)
Anyway, the lady from DHS, whose primary function is vocational rehab probably, asks Connie if I have a job. What part of therapy and swimming in a pool relates to my employment status, I’m not sure. Connie replies yes and that I’ve worked at [local Fortune 50 corporation] for 15 years now.
The DHS lady replies to the effect of
Connie and I can’t decide if I should be:
- Angry she assumed I can’t/don’t work due to my CP.
- Amused that DHS hires people with their own set of disability prejudices/assumptions.
- Sad that she reacted this way because the vast majority of people with disabilities are unemployed…
Votes?
Come to think of it, when we took CJ to a pre-K screening, the teacher there seemed surprised when we told her I have a job as a Systems Analyst. Hmmm.
Why as it as I get older, I begin to think more people than I ever thought see me as disabled first and a person somewhere way after that?
I think, today, for “Talk Like A Pirate Day” I’ll just say, “ARGH!”
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