Why Disabled People Cannot Simply Get A Job
For those of you who have to crowdfund your survival, have you been met with "get a job" comments? Don't you wish people understood the reality of the issue?
While some disabled can work, this is not the case for others. While crowdfunding your survival, have you been met with “get a job” comments? being called a beggar, lazy, etc? First folks need to understand that I’m sure you rather work, getting a biweekly check than have to depend on the kindness of strangers to survive. Here’s why disabled people cannot get jobs and it has nothing to do with being “lazy”
Our disabilities can cause issues with employment. Needing time off for appointments. Calling off because flare-ups make us too unwell. The job is inaccessible. Employers not wanting to provide accommodations and the list goes on. Some of us are unable to work as fast as our abled-bodied co-workers. Need more breaks etc.
Getting on disability is tough. You have a laundry list of conditions, and medical records to back those conditions, and still get denied. For those that are on disability, they cap the hours you can work. And in some states, employers can legally pay you below min. wage. Also, people act like you can just walk into a job and get hired. Also, how do you know they are trying to get a job and need money to get to interviews? Or clothes for the job if a specific attire is required?
Also for some jobs, it's a while before you get paid.
I depend on social media because it’s the only job that’s accessible, flexible, and where I can take as many breaks as I need, accommodate myself, and take time off if needed. Pick a schedule that fits. Adjust my environment. And makes appointments when needed.
Grocery shopping, for example, leaves me too drained for the rest of the day. The way my folks do it. I have little to no heads-up beforehand. depending on how last minute I am told, I am unable to recharge enough spoons. I need a full day to recharge.
If I need a full day to recharge from grocery shopping, imagine how difficult a 9-5 would be. Imagine how difficult it would be for a disabled person if simple things like cleaning, a shower, etc put them out of commission.
My folks do not understand. If grocery shopping falls on a Friday, I need all of Saturday to recharge. When someone has back-to-back appointments, that puts a damper on me because I don’t have enough time to recharge. It also overwhelms me ADHD wise having to remember the times my mom has to be at said appointment. Also when she can get in is a struggle. If she can get in around noon, it buys me a few extra hours to recharge, if it’s early in the morning, I have to hope they aren’t too busy and she won’t be too long.
I developed some respiratory issues and when I catch the slightest cold, it has me sick as a dog, coughing my lungs out. When that has never happened as often as I’ve gotten sick when I was in school. if I catch a cold I need more time to heal than when I didn’t have this respiratory issue. That’s a week I would need from work vs being self-employed and I can grab my laptop and work from bed. Colds/flu when you have a pre-existing condition, especially one that affects your lungs, hit differently. I want to be able to take off without being punished for it. I’m sure that’s the same for a lot of disabled folks. They want to recharge spoons without being punished for it.
Jobs also weed out disabled people in the application process when it says “must be able to lift x lbs” or “must be able to stand for x amount of time”
And with those quizzes, you have to take also weed out neurodivergent people. It’s funny society wants to judge us for being unemployed while outright keeping us out of the workforce. There are a lot of things that play a role.
Everyone’s struggles are different. I’ve written blog posts from 2018-2020 about my employment struggles and getting my mom to understand. She thinks I’m “scared” to get a job. Yes. disabled folks should be “scared” of discrimination, bullying, having a medical emergency and the job punishing them for it, the job being inaccessible, and not being able to get adjustments because “it’s not fair” to the other workers. I was fed up with being expected to function in a word that was not for me and that doesn’t understand me. Now think about how other disabled people feel. They would rather work than depend on the kindness of strangers or a disability check that’s keeping them below the poverty line.
I wish people judged less and understood more.
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