25 replies to this topic

[paragirl]

So who out there works and what kind of job do you have. I have not gone back to work yet, but I want to by the end of the Summer. I will most likely go back to my old job which was Service Writing at a local Dealership. Fun Fun. So here we go>>>

[Millard]

I have been working for 35 of my 37 post injury years. I had worked in an office environment in AP and Payroll. Since about 1988 I have been more heavily into computer programming.

Good luck,

Millard English

[Joed]

I'll be two years post-injury in June, and haven't yet returned to work, but I hope as soon as my son starts kindergarten in August, I'll be able to reclaim that part of my life again. LOL, my son is plenty of work as it is, believe me. (And excellent physical therapy )

I counseled young wards of the court, and helped prepare them for the transition from what is often a lifetime of foster care into the adult arena. My job was very rewarding to me, so I'm quite anxious to return in some capacity...not sure what endurance I'll have...it involves a lot of driving between five counties. But I'm also considering starting my own grant writing business, in case I find that I cannot return to what I was doing before.

Other than that, I'm going to write the world's greatest novel and live alone (well, okay...one cabana boy) on my own island and operate an animal refuge. (That's 'Plan B')

[AHolland]

I have not returned to work in a formal sense.

Under the terms of my insurance, any money I make is deducted from my insurance coverage. Worse yet, insurance money is not tax deductable, but regualr work is. This means that if I were to work and make $1000.00 ($800.00 after tax), then I would have $1000.00 deducted from my disability pay, but really only get $800.00 after tax. I would work, but bring home less money.

Secondly, I suffer from chronic pain and must rest myself after about 4 hours. Between driving time to and from work, I would not be able to sit around at work much. I could do more from home, but that would necessitate the company allowing me to work from home. Not an easy position to find.

The insurance company is starting to do whatever it can to get me back to work as they can cut down, or cut off my disability insurance if they can get me back to work. Once I am back to work for any period of time, they can cut me off for good. You have to love insurance companies.

Anyhow to make a long story longer, I think it is important that people that are handicapped find employment and go back to work. Sitting around doing nothing shrinks your world and only makes a bad situation worse.

Life is what you make of it. The right work, is rewarding and gets you back out in the real world. Good luck.

[spinsonwheels]

I didn't return to work until 4 years after initial partial injury, (I could walk short distances with sticks but used a wheelchair mostly) I studied part time initially and got welfare benefits (no insurance). got my first job, which was full time, 20 months ago in a law firm as 1/2 time receptionist 1/2 time legal advisor but was struggling with coping with work and life and basically had no life - work sleep pain work sleep pain.....

exarcerbated injury in a fall (at work) 3 months ago and have just started back this week at same firm but as full time advisor (and full time wheelchair user) in this role I can work from home alot now and go in for a couple of days a week. We will see how get on and alter my hours to fit my ability to cope.

i'm in the UK, and Access to Work (a govt scheme) has been really helpful in providing equipment/ money to help my firm retain me (eg a networked computer at home) without whcih I really wouldn't have been able to keep my job. I need too much rest and prefer to work evenings and weekends to make up my hours. But I do miss working alongside collegues and enjoy my time in the office. (also I'm not great at motivation at home) My firm are being supportive so I'm very lucky.

[stef01be]

I've been working for 6 years as a software developer for the European logistics department of a japanese car-manufacturor.

I'm 16 years post-injury (c5-c6 quad) and had to finish highschool, go to uni and stuff before starting a professional career.

[kanga2433]

I returned to work for the goverment (UK) after my paralysis (transverse myelitis) but had to give up some years later as the fatigue associated with de-myelinating diseases is quite considerable. After a few years of retirement, the rules for govement bebfits changed and I would be much worse off if I took and job and had to give up, so I am a househusband and do variuos bits and pieces for local charities and this is mostly acting as treasurer for which my computer is invaluable.

[gazrobsuk]

paragirl, on May 8 2005, 10:07 AM, said:

So who out there works and what kind of job do you have.  I have not gone back to work yet, but I want to by the end of the Summer.  I will most likely go back to my old job which was Service Writing at a local Dealership.  Fun Fun.  So here we go>>>

I'm coming up to 5 years post injury & I've worked full time from home after returning from my little holiday in Stoke Mandeville. I'm lucky that I worked for a large computer company (HP) in a job that mostly involved using a PC & telephone (technical support) & they have installed an office & equipment at home for me & I occasionally go into the office too now that I drive. Ok I don't do on site/customer visits any more but I do feel very lucky that I'm still working & being fully supported.

Technically I don't have to work (financially at least) since my compensation in 2003 but it's still a well paid & good job which helps motivate me & gives me self worth as well as occupying my day to be honest. I'm now a Team Leader of a European team of technical support folks & what with high speed ADSL etc all my work can be done from home.

I do miss the office banter/company though so I guess in an ideal world it would be good to do 60-40 etc but hey I can't complain as how many quads can find a job working from home.

My full story is on my website at: http://www.gazrobs.freeuk.com/
or just do a Google search for my name (Gary Roberts)

[yvonne]

I'm an amputee wheelchair user and since my illness 20 years ago have had many jobs including hotel receptionist, admin officer in the Job Centre, secretary to a disability access officer in a major city council, done a full time degree then worked as an assistant psychologist in various hospitals and am now doing a full time "on the job" training to become a Doctor of Clinical Psychology. Luckily I rarely get pain problems and any fatigue I get is within normal limits for full time working mums, maybe this is an advantage of being an amputee over having an SCI although I know many amputees have sever chronic phantom limb pain which can be very debilitating. The main problems I've had have been around access in the workplace - which can still be an issue even with the DDA and Access to Work, and early on in my career I would say there was a benefits trap which could have stopped me pursuing work (i.e. for a long time I was worse off working than I would have been not working). It's paid off now though as I earn a pretty reasonable professional salary whilst I complete my training. In some ways I find work easier than full time childcare which would be the alternative for me nowadays. Keeping a 4 year old entertained all day is a job for the nursery professionals in my opinion! But I would like to achieve a better balance between the two, at the moment I've no choice but to do the training full time, once I'm qualified the plan is to work 3 days a week and no more!

[Wheelchair_Titan]

Thanks paragirl, a very interesting, insightful and useful topic.

Like several people here, (I was bored with my made up rehab exercises and sessions) I needed to work and continue to be able to work. I was back working at my professional job within nine months. My employer was not the most helpful in that, their way of dealing with the "new" me was to promote me from my position as a secondary school principal to a more more senior management position which would keep me away from the public and away from teaching. This was in my mind their attempt to avoid any claim of discrimination. How does one claim discrimination when they promote you into what was very much a higher ranking position but one meant to keep me in a back room position.

As DAVID stated here earlier, "remember its not the will of the wheelchair that tells you what you can do but the person in it."

Since leaving that "promotion" behind I have worked for half a dozen years as a professor/consultant/teacher in special education and have worked the other earlier half dozen years, as the President and CEO for the Easter Seals National Council.

I must admit that having a higher education uinder my belt before my injury and having been a professional in my career, has made a world of difference for me. Besides what does one do with four university degrees? I knew I could use them or I could feel sorry for myself, ignore them and be doomed to what so many of my fellow rehab mates were forced to accept, a lot of nothing positive to look forward to. I was lucky, able to and chose to move on with my life. The only difference in the new me being that I did everything in my work and play life (less one major fun area) sitting down.

In my current work as a full time Professor/Consultant/Teacher and from my historical perspective, I have, too often, witnessed that for persons with disabilities, in our case SCI, without a higher education, that well over 80+% are so often left to try and fend for their own being and are relegated to being "disabled" rather than disABLED or ENABLED!

The result of my not having had that significant amount of higher education when my injury occured would likely have meant that I would have found myself stuck in a position of not likely finding meaningful work or even work.

Always with JOY,
William

[shanik117]

My boyfriend is a quad, and he was injured at 14, so obviously he didn't work before that. But he knew he didn't want to live off the government the rest of his life so he eventually went to college for computer programming and that's what he does now.

[titanium4motion]

Wow!

What a question!

Well, I got injured in March of 1987 and spent 5-1/2 months in the hospital. I am a C6/C7 quadriplegic. When I got home I got cable television and got stuck in the MTV groove! I grew long hair, down to the back rest of my chair.

After 14 months of being home. One day I woke up and said to myself, "This isn't no way to live." I want more out of life! I wanted an accessible career! I contact our Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, BVR, and told them that I wanted to go back to college for a degree in computer aided design! BVR liked the idea and I was put through physical and mental tests to qualify. I passed. They provided me books, tuition, computer equipment, software, anything I needed to get me back into the work force.

I did earn my degree in CAD and gave myself 6 months to find employment. I had many interviews and learned about employers interviewing tactics with people with disabilities. I did reach my goal of finding employment as a designer for a small engineering design firm called GLA Finishing Systems. During my interviewing period I did have an interview with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, but they weren't hiring at the moment. Nine months within my employment at GLA, NASA called me and asked, "A door of opportunity is available? Do you want to join the team?" I left GLA and joined NASA. That was 13 years ago already. How time has flew by!

I don't want to rub it in but I have one of those jobs when the alarm clock goes off in the morning I can't wait to get to work. At quitting time it is hard to shut off the computer and leave! NASA has been very nice to me. I went back for an Associate degree in mechanical design and a Bachelor's degree in automated manufacturing engineering technology. They picked up the tab on all the educational expenses. So what do I do? I am 802 electrical engineering designer by OPM standards. I do all sort of electrical, mechanical, civil, architectural, P&ID's, schematics, panel layout, AutoLisp programming and much more! I went from $627 a month on Social Security Disability to a six figure income!

I have worked on the Space Shuttle fuel cell upgrade program, International Space Station projects, the Russian Space Station projects, and right now I am working on two Mars project for our flight to Mars. I have offered my talents to help design the next generation Mars rover at NASA Glenn Research Center.

My employer has made a lot of accommodations for me. I have a cement parking pad next to the building I work in. I work in an office cubical environment which is highly accessible. I plot out drawings all over the Center for the engineers I support. I don't have to pick them up, the engineers do. I also have the option to tele-commute. That is to work at home during very cold and snowy days, very hot days, and when my work load is heavy. I can do my work at home. At home I have a dual screen setup using AutoCAD software. I work with a lot of smart, intelligent and bright people who want to explore the boundaries of the universe. I have been told if I wanted to go and get a master's degree, funding is there for me to go.

I have met and talked with Vice President Al Gore, John and Annie Glenn, former Administrator Dan Golden and presence Administrator Mike Griffin. With the hard work and determination I have been easily promoted 5 times during the first seven years of my employment and impaled through the glass ceiling for engineering technicians at the Center.

What inspired me to return to work was a comment by former President Bill Clinton. He said, "If you can work. You should work." I believed in him.

I wanted to share this true story with this forum because it is important for all of us living with a disability. The words spell out so well but what you don't see is all the hard work, failures, frustration, disappointments, rejections and sometimes setbacks. In the long run it all turns into success. Even though you feel like your world has caved in. You have to pick up the shatter pieces of your life and rebuild it into a now beautiful stain glass window. If you believe in yourself, you can move mountains. I am just an ordinary guy who exercised opportunities and I didn't give up. You all can do it. I say to people, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

I want to make an important point. I am not saying all people with disabilities should work. There are some people I feel can't work. For those, that is ok, but in your heart and mind. If you want to work, go for it! It is very hard to let go of that secure Government check and earn a living on your own. It is a very big risk but the risk may be worth it. I think of the one Elton John song that says, "... I took a chance and changed the way I live ..."

My name is Floyd Truskot. You can email me at:

floyd.j.truskot@nasa.gov
titanium4motion@centurytel.net

There is one thing I have learned in life. If you can't share what you learned, it was a waste of time. I am willing to share anything that I know.

Working provides that social network we all need. It provides a better income. You have improved self esteem. Better medical coverage. A retirement package. You make new friends. It gives you self worth, direction, a goal, a purpose, a structure game plan and it gives you a much fulfilling life you thought you never had. I share my story with anyone who wants to listen.

Paragirl, thanks for the good question.

Floyd Truskot

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[Bob Clark]

Hi Floyd,

Thank you for sharing. Now I feel like a complete loser!

You quoting the United Negro College Fund slogan made me think of Dan Quayle when he said:

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What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."

(Vice President Dan Quayle - this was part of his address to the United Negro College Fund, whose slogan is "a mind is a terrible thing to waste")

Since you're currently working on a couple of Mars missions maybe you could straighten out a thing or two for Mr. Quayle. He said:

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Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe. (Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/11/89)"

I just posted at another website my views on NASA, its funding level and practicality of sending a manned mission to Mars. As well as my thoughts on the ISS. There's another fellow there who has a real bone to pick with you. You may want to go there and post your point of view. With ever increasing budget problems you may need to become more of a public advocate for NASA's funding level and even the need or desire of its existence. I found a lot of the thread quite amusing and even funny.

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What inspired me to return to work was a comment by former President Bill Clinton. He said, "If you can work. You should work." I believed in him.

I sure hope you didn't believe Bill Clinton when he said:

Quote

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."

(Washington, D.C., January 26, 1998)

But more seriously, congratulations on the great success you've had especially in light of your SCI. Your story is quite uplifting, inspirational and hopefully will be an incentive for others to follow in your virtual footsteps.

I went to Vocational Rehabilitation after my injury too. It was 1979 before computers became so ubiquitous and the need for programmers so great. I don't remember being offered anything in the computer field. Computers were a real mystery back (at least to me) then that only the fellows with shirt pocket pencil protectors knew anything about. I got my first computer a few years later. A Texas Instrument 44/A. Not very user friendly but a great little machine to start learning on. They tested me and I passed the tests for becoming an Air Traffic Controller but since I have a slight stutter, for the safety of the flying public, I thought it best not to pursue it! Ra, ra, ra, ra, Runway .... La, la, la, la, la, left I said!!! ..... Oh, the humanity.

I later went to a community college for a semester and half but gave up on it. Accessibility was still an issue back then and for that and other personal reasons I became disenfranchised. Then quit. I could think up and give a handful of excuses for why I never sought employment but I won't. Other than to say that this wheelchair really broke my spirit, lowered my already low self-esteem and self-worth and really sucked the joy from my life. But that's just me. Some are able to overcome and even thrive in an "atmosphere" of calamity and misfortune. You are living proof.

Keep it up.

Now about those Shuttle heatshield tiles.....

[AHolland]

Now if Simon would just pay us for every post we made, or paid us for every word we posted.....mmm

I totally agree that people should not allow themselves to waste away at home if they are able to get out and about. Unfortunately for a lot of us, our bodies may just not agree.

With time, hopefully more and more employers may recognise the value in intelligent and experienced employees that may only be able to work from home, or on limited hours. I can see a host of intelligent people on these forums, many who probably cannot get employment for one reason or another. Maybe with time our opportunities will come too.

[wheelszzz]

Like AHolland I also will lose my benfits if I work, so I keep active here in the southwest USA by being an activist for the disabiled. It keeps me busy and I feel I am doing something to help others like ourselfs.

[hillarymcarter]

If Simon paid for every word written, Bob Clark would be a millionaire!

[Bob Clark]

if

[hillarymcarter]

That one wouldn't make a lot of money! Oh, Bob, I got that book (Is Fred Dead). It didn't tell me a lot I didn't know but it was a lot of fun looking at it! Bruce's home health nurse was shocked! My grandmother came over yesterday and picked it up and started flipping through it....so embarrassing! Then she started telling me about her new husband and his viagra!

[MelissaB]

My husband was injured about 6 weeks ago now so he's obviously not back to work yet. But he's 22 and he is a farmer and he is hell bent on getting back on the farm in what ever capacity he can manage. His injury is c5 incomplete. Are there any farmers out there who could tell us how they manage?

[hillarymcarter]

My husband is a farmer, but seeing as he got run over by a cotton picker, I think when he gets ready to go back to work I will make him find a new job!!!!

[wheelie182]

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My husband is a farmer, but seeing as he got run over by a cotton picker, I think when he gets ready to go back to work I will make him find a new job!!!!

No....he could still do the same job.....and it'll be ok.....because if he gets caught again, he wont be able to feel it !!!!!

( im actually laughing at the minute,......because im listening some RHCP, and it looks as if your avatar is dancing to it...)

[hillarymcarter]

When my husband and I were in college we used to drink (a lot), we used to put the tv on mute to CNN and put on rap music and laugh our asses off b/c it looked like the old men were rapping!
My husband took the police dispatching test last week so hopefully he will get a safe job there! He graduated college in criminal justice but his family owns cotton, rice, corn, and soy bean farms so that was the expected job for him.