“If you have time to be on social media, you also have time for…” “If you have time to watch Netflix, you also have time for…” Yeah, but do I have the energy for it? Do I have the emotional and mental capacity for it? Am I pain-free enough for it? Can I focus on it? Can I do it without leaving my bed? Can I safely do it without risk of (physically or emotionally) injuring myself by pushing past my boundaries?
Do people know about Vocational Rehab? If you’re USAmerican they have this in every state.
It’s a program that helps disabled folks access education, training, and employment. For FREE.
You only have to be disabled to qualify (autism, ADHD, mental illness, physical illness, etc) and they cover very broad categories of disability. You do NOT have to be officially diagnosed yet when you walk in - they will even help pay for your diagnosis if you are struggling w disability.
I applied with my suspected autism and fibromyalgia, and they paid for 100% of my formal autism assessment.
Once your disability is established they will give you career counseling to learn about your interests and skills, and depending on the plan you create with your caseworker they will then help with school or finding employment. They paid for 100% of my college tuition and books, and even provided a laptop for me to use.
You do not have to pay anything for this program. If you make above a certain income, you will have to contribute to educational costs but will still receive assistance.
They will also help with the cost of things like mental health counseling while you work towards your goals, clothing for interviews, etc.
They cannot discriminate based on your race, gender, or sexual orientation.
They won’t make you do excessive meetings.
They will allow you to do meetings with your caseworker remotely.
They will not drug test you.
They want you to succeed.
I’m sure that individual experiences vary but my caseworker was exceptionally easy to work with and very kind.
Vocational Rehab is a phenomenal resource every disabled person should be aware of. Here is the list of offices in every state:
You would if you were tired enough. You would if you were hungry enough. You would if your mind and body had been worn down enough, through pain or disease or toil or violent struggle. You might if you were put on the wrong medicine, or you got the wrong kind of head injury, or you were forced to choose between someone else and yourself. You might if your livelihood was staked on it, or all your hopes and dreams. You might if you didn’t know what else to do, if it’s what you were taught or if nobody taught you anything else.
I have not been worn down in most of these ways. I have lived a remarkably privileged life. But I have been worn down in some ways. And they were enough to teach me that in the wrong circumstances, any of us can become someone we don’t want to be. It’s worth keeping that in mind.
My deepest darkest fantasy is that I collapse on the street and I am rushed to the hospital. They perform a bunch of tests and find out I am severely deficient in some kind of vitamin. Then I start taking the vitamin and I become the happiest cleverest person alive because all my problems were caused by this one deficiency
Moreover, everyone gathers around to be tremulously compassionate and discreetly admiring: all this time, you lacked the Vitamin? And yet you persevered?
i thought my laptop was on its last leg because it was running at six billion degrees and using 100% disk space* at all times and then i turned off shadows and some other windows effects and it was immediately cured. i just did the same to my roommate’s computer and its performance issues were also immediately cured. okay. i guess.
so i guess if you have creaky freezy windows 10/11 try searching “advanced system settings”, go to performance settings, and uncheck “show shadows under windows” and anything else you don’t want. hope that helps someone else.
*yes sorry i mean usage i posted this before bed :( i do not mean the hard drive is full aaaaghhhh
