Get a Job

From this morning’s paper:

Only 5% to 10% of the general population can be considered "self-actualized artists" said Matt Bedwell. The folks at Southside Art Center on Elder Creek Road, where Bedwell is a program director, are no different. The are adults with developmental disabilities who paint, sculpt, weave and make music. But not all the do stands out as art. Only a few of the individuals produce work that clearly is. Sal Perez is one. Much of his work is based on the traditional Mexican Catholic iconography. Perhaps his best works are his ceramic interpretations of the traditional Virgin de Guadalupe. His explanations of his work are slow and halting because of his disabilities, but his engagement with clay is clear. Angelina Torrente is a prolific painter with repetitive motifs. Her "cats" are boxy and humanoid, with bold stripes. To some, they may be childish, but her authoritative use of color and line seem professional. Oddly, she sometimes adds "Get a Job" to her paintings. Because they receive SSI payments, they can’t actually earn a living with their art, but it is sold at New Visions Gallery in Country Club Plaza, and they get a cut, to spend as they wish.

http://www.sacbee.com/city/story/1101343.html

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It’s not in the least "odd" that someone who is disabled adds "get a job" to paintings. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve been told to "just get a job" by people who think that the only problem is that I haven’t tried hard enough.

The goal of most disabled people is to get a job. But the goal of most businesses is to keep expenses to a minimum. If hiring a disabled person is going to increase their insurance cost, they’re not interested. I’ve had potential employers tell me to my face "you’re an accident waiting to happen", and other disabled people have reported hearing the same thing as an excuse not to hire them.

I’ve even applied to organizations that help the disabled get jobs. One told me I had the wrong disability, they only help the mentally retarded, not the physically disabled. Another sent me a letter that boiled down to "good luck getting anyone to hire someone as impaired as you are." That’s when I stopped wasting my limited funds on stamps; if even they wouldn’t hire me, then no one will. Even the people who make a career of placing the disabled in jobs told me to give up hope.

Yet, according to the judge deciding whether I get Disability benefits or not, I could get a job if I only tried harder. He’s convinced that people would be beating down my door trying to hire someone with my qualifications and experience, if I’d only send out some applications. And, in fact, when I was sending out applications, I got nearly every interview I applied for. The problem was, when I showed up for the interview, so did my symptoms; it was apparent to the employer that I was not a healthy person, and the interviews focused primarily on my obvious disabilities and not on my abilities. Let’s be realistic, no one is going to hire someone who admits that she’s only able to do a fraction of the work of the other candidates for the job. It doesn’t matter how much experience and how good her qualifications – unlike "of counsel" lawyers (rainmakers), paralegals are not hired to rest on their laurels, they’re hired to work hard 8+ hours a day. Some days, you don’t get a chance to sit down ... much less lie down before you pass out or take a 3-hour nap to have the energy to get through the afternoon.

The problem is not that disabled people need to be told "get a job" but that an employer needs to be told "you must hire him/her". And, in the opinion of a former State Voc Rehab placement counselor, they couldn’t find a placement for me because I’m not well enough to work.

My SSDI checks – if I ever get them – will be less than a minimum wage paycheck. I’d like nothing better than to get a job (with medical insurance!) but the reality is, no one wants to hire someone who can only work 6-10 hours a week and can’t tell them in advance what days she’ll be well enough to come in.

And the same goes for most disabled people. They would love to get a job with good medical insurance, but something about each disability makes employers wonder if they can do the job as well as a non-disabled person, and even though it’s illegal to discriminate against someone because they have a disability, employers will find other reasons to hire someone else. No two résumés are exactly alike, and they’ll find something on the other person’s that differentiates her from you: you may never need to speak Chinese on the job, but it’s something she has that you don’t that allows them to say that she was the better candidate. (Because, you never know, some day they might get a client who only speaks Chinese.)