Okay it’s official I’m the worst blogger ever. I told you that I was going to start doing weekly installments just in time to go MIA for months. Sorry about that. I could give you a ton of excuses, but the truth is time just got away from me.
If your wondering about how I’m doing with the whole Covid-19 thing, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Yes, I lost my job, but I have a roof over my head and food on the table. At the moment that seems like all any of us can ask for.
Anyway, as I recall I stopped my last post at the point where I had just left my first job with the arrogance that only someone in their early 20s can muster. Let’s pick up the story there. In keeping with my attitude at the time I was sure I would find something else in the next couple of months. So, I spent about an hour a day filling out applications and went about my business as if everything were fine.
As June slowly turned into July the fear and desperation started to grow. The one hour spent on applications steadily grew to four a day and an interview became a weekly occurrence. This to me shows that my qualifications were good enough, but yet none of these resulted in anything. I will freely admit that I blew some of these interviews through a combination of wrong answers and nerves. Most though followed an all too familiar script. They would call or email eager to meet the amazing candidate who had graduated at the top of his class with spot on references. Then they would meet me and have one of two reactions. Some would look at the wheelchair like it was a joke. As if at any moment I was going to pop up and shout that they were being punk’d. Others would look at me with such disappointment that you would think I got them a bag full of coal instead of that puppy they wanted for Christmas.
At this point someone is bound to say, “Hey, that’s discrimination!” To which I have to say welcome to America, where have you been? And before you ask yes there is legislation against employment discrimination. Actually, there is quite a bit of it. In this case the relevant law is The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Like a lot of such laws though the teeth have been taken out of the enforcement section. For the ADA the only way to lodge an employment complaint is to sue and as anyone who has had to make that choice knows there is no faster way to get put on a blacklist. For those of you that still think it is a good idea to sue you should know that courts side with the employer 92% of the time. Then there is the fact that Arizona has a law where employers don’t have to disclose why they didn’t choose a given candidate. Therefore, the discrimination is next to impossible to prove. As the cherry on top there is this old chestnut:
Chief Justice Rehnquist said it would be ”entirely rational and therefore constitutional for a state employer to conserve scarce financial resources by hiring employees who are able to use existing facilities” without the accommodations that the disabilities act requires for those who need them. Feb 22, 2001
Even though this ruling is 20 years old it is still the official law of the land. So, needless to say I didn’t sue. Instead I just stomached the injustice and kept my nose to the grindstone. About two days before the new school year I got a lucky break. I got hired as a substitute teacher without an in-person interview. As fortunate as this was it did create a whole host of logistical problems. Especially, since I never knew where I was going until the last minute. Still I would have stuck it out if my dad hadn’t lost his job. There was no way for me to support myself on a substitute’s salary so when he was forced to move to another state for a job, I had to give up my job and follow.
I’ll talk more about this move in later posts, but for our purposes here let’s suffice it to say that it did not go well. When I returned to the desert my job hunt was even worse than the first time. In addition to the discrimination my references were older and therefore less convincing. Seeing that it was going to be a long road I decided to expand my search into a number of other fields. After a year though and over a hundred interviews I got the distinct impression that no matter my training or education no one wanted me.
So, swallowing my pride I turned to the government for help. I should have known from a lifetime of dealing with government bureaucracy that it wasn’t going to end well. First, I investigated social security disability. Like most federal programs its administration largely depends on the state you are in. As I came to know Arizona’s program, I found a variety of problems for me. For starters you must get four doctors involved. Two doctors chosen by you to provide evidence that you are no longer able to work. The other two doctors represent the government and their job is to pick you apart. Even if they do all agree that you have a case, they will still reject you on the first pass in order to discourage as many people as possible.
If that wasn’t enough of a hassle for you there is the matter that once you are declared unfit for work, it is twice as hard to get it reversed. Meaning that for pennies you are surrendering your right to work. While some like my ex brother-in-law might find this to be a dream situation, I assure you it is not. Human beings need some type of work in our life. Without it we tend to go a little crazy as has been on full display during the quarantine. So, despite my desperation I refused this Faustian bargain. Instead I went down the other government path of vocational rehabilitation or VR.
For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of working with vocational rehabilitation services let me explain. VR often gets students referred to it while they are still in junior high or high school. They then put these students through a series of tests to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Based on these results VR recommends a career path for the student and helps them make the transition from school to their professional lives. In addition, VR helps adults with newly acquired disabilities (Such as a traumatic brain injury from a car accident.), those lucky few who came off Social Security, and disabled adults who have fallen on hard times such as myself. If you are wondering VR usually doesn’t get involved with college bound students. That’s why I didn’t go through this process in high school.
Vocational Rehabilitation Services is necessary and noble work. Unfortunately, like most noble work it is heavily underfunded and understaffed. As a result, most VR counselors have caseloads similar to that of public defenders. The one I got was a perfect example of this, young, newly hired, and overworked. After only glancing at the first three pages of the mountain of paperwork they wanted from me, she agreed to draw up a contract.
A week later she sent me the contract expecting me to sign it on the spot. Something I declined to do because as you might have figured out by now, I’m a suspicious man. I insisted on reading the contract first. Something I would recommend everyone do before signing anything. Often the devil truly is in the details. In this particular case though my due diligence was pointless. Upon questioning my young counselor proved that she didn’t know anything and made it clear that if I wanted any help I had to sign. So, despite my misgivings I did just that.
Now I’m sure you are wondering what those misgivings were. Like a lot of things they essentially boil down to money. See even though Vocational Rehabilitation Services is a government service they contract out their job placements services to private businesses. This in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Where it goes wrong is the way they structure the contracts. The businesses are paid like lawyers through a process of billable hours. Depending on the company they charged anywhere from 75 to 110 dollars an hour. Meaning that they are incentivized to take as long as possible and since the contract lasted a term of three years, I have no doubt that is exactly how long they would have taken.
Not wanting to waste three years of my life enriching yet another person I redoubled my own efforts while the giant bureaucracy processed my paperwork. Through some act of providence, it was at this time that I finally got a job. Ironically, it was a job as a substitute teacher. It was almost the same exact job I had left a year and half before. With this I got out of the contract and managed to achieve some semblance of normalcy. At least for a few months before I got laid off thanks to the pandemic. Meaning that at the end of this crazy journey I’m back at square one. I’m sorry if that is depressing but it’s true.
Just because that’s my experience doesn’t mean it has to be yours. If you or someone you know is struggling with unemployment due to a disability it is important to remember each case is unique. Please don’t be afraid to look for help in your local community. To that end I’ve included links to some resources at the bottom of this post to help you get started.
Well, with that you are all caught up on what has been happening in my career over the past two years. I won’t make any promises about future posts like I did last time, but I will try to be better. Until next time goodnight and good luck.