Saturday, April 26, 2008

Still Paying for an Enjoyable Afternoon

I went to lunch the other day with an out-of-town friend. Since this was our only chance to see each other this year, I wasn't keeping close tabs on the time to avoid overdoing. Instead of coming home in 2 hours or less to avoid wearing myself out, I was out for about 3 1/2 hours. Most of it sitting down chatting -- typical office job behavior -- and four days later, I'm still feeling the effects of it. I'm exhausted, and falling asleep for 2-4 hours mid-afternoon.  There's your proof that I cannot hold a "real job" ... I would work one day and then would have to spend several days in bed.  And that's after not even a full 8 hour day away from home!

ADA-mandated accommodations do NOT include "work when able".  VocRehab won't help you if you can only work one day a week: they can't place someone who can't come in at least M/W/F.

Clearly, if I'd had the mandated Functional Capacity Evaluation, it would be obvious that I cannot work even one 8-hour day without collapsing, and therefore, I'm disabled.  The reason that my application for Disability benefits isn't approved is clearly that people "choose" to believe that a silly name equates to a minimal level of impairment, and they don't want to see any proof that there are demonstrable biological abnormalities (i.e., it's not just laziness).  The FCE hasn't been done, and I can assure you, it will never be done, because it would be more more piece of evidence that they don't want to see.  If they do only the tests that "should" be normal in CFS, they can continue to dispute my claim.

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