|
I wish I didn't...
I have Cerebral Palsy. I'm a spastic quadriplegic, but I'm pretty able-bodied and I get around reasonably well. Not *only* do I walk, but I also work out, lift weights, dance, and horseback ride...on my terms, anyway.
Unfortunately, there are still a lot of things that I can't do. I have a fair number of physical "barriers to employment" -- when I'm out of work, I can't get a job waiting tables, for instance, because my balance isn't good enough, or I can't get a job checking groceries or doing retail sales, because I can't stand still for that long.
I was never pushed into any sort of "handicapped" vocational stuff, because I'm pretty good at "passing" (sad to say) and I've learned that the best strategy is basically "shut up and act able-bodied." My major problems with discrimination have been meeting people under the auspices of "disabled" whatever; or with employment.
Advocates: I really despise walking into some place full of (able-bodied) "disability advocates" or the like, and having people treat me as though I'm either five years old, or have the equivalent intellect, especially since some of the time, I can absolutely wipe up the floor with these people, intellectually speaking. (Not to brag, or anything, but I have an IQ somewhere around 165, two degrees, a fairly solid list of professional credentials, I speak three languages competently and three more a little bit, and I can do almost anydamnthing I put my mind to!) In fact, I'm so bitter about this attitude that it's one of the underlying reasons why I want to get a PhD -- so that when drips like this come up to me and say, "So, how are we today, Sara?" (NB: Using someone's first name without their permission in a formal setting in Canada is *really* impolite!) I can say, "Excuse me, that's *Doctor* ------ to you..." with the appropriate -1C look.
Employment: I'm also tired of people taking a (minor) disability as an automatic downcheck towards employment, but in a subtle sneaky way that one can't have them hauled up in front of the Human Rights Commission (or your local entity of similar description and lack of teeth here) for discriminatory hiring practices. I've had to endure questions in interviews like, "How's your energy level? How much can you get done in one day?" (Now you know why I put a lot of that energy into passing...) I've also had at least one potential employer watch how I walked out, and I didn't get that job, even though I passed the interview *and* the editing test with flying colours (I even found a typo in the test itself!).
Even the educational system here is rather discriminatory. If I'd wanted to, I could have gotten a full *grant* (not a loan, a grant) to get a whole undergraduate degree, but the catch was, I would have been prohibited to take more than 1/3 of a full courseload in a year. So if I'd wanted to milk the system and go to school for free, I could have done an entire Honours BA in 12 years... Sheesh. Wouldn't it be cheaper for the government for people like me just to give us a similar grant for *four* years of full-time study?!
Of course, none of this is even getting into what my fiance has been going through since he got hit over the head by a flying tv cameraman and has since been on Workers Comp and SSDI. Lawyers going after doctors, Medicare, Medicaid, oh my god, it's enough to make this OHIP-lovin' (and New York boy fiance-lovin') Canadian girl quiver with rage -- "Quit bickering over whose *responsibility* it is to *fill out the goddam paperwork* and just *treat the man,* already, stupid doctors!!"
|