Finding Work While Disabled and Feminist

I have Cerebral Palsy and Asperger’s Syndrome as a result I am unable to attend school and work at the same time. I try to avoid student loans because I know finding permanent employment after I finish school will be a challenge. As a result I try to find work in the summer to get me through the school year (I still live at home so beyond tuition I have fewer expenses than the average student).

Last summer I looked for work all summer with no luck until three months before I was to return to school and I was finally offered a job in a government organization. I was hired but I had to wait for my security check to clear. I waited and waited. When I was finally able to contact someone in the organization to see what the hold up was, I was told I had been transferred to a different position from the one I was originally offered and that my new supervisor had forgotten to send in my security forms. I was given no information as to what my new position would entail and I was again forced to wait for security clearance.

Finally five weeks before the start of school I was able to begin my job. I was disappointed to discover that I had been reassigned to a position which required quite a bit of heavy lifting. I knew that I shouldn’t be working in that environment because of my CP but I was desperate for the money and there was no hope of finding another job. I suffered through the five weeks and made barely enough money to cover my semester at school. Unfortunately there was no money left over for the therapy I needed for the damage done to my shoulder because of the work.

This summer I vowed not to be put in that position again so I began my job search months earlier than usual. Unfortunately my semester is coming to an end and I have had no luck in my search.

I routinely check resources for people with disabilities to broaden my options and heard that my University would be hosting a job fair exclusively for people with disabilities. I was hopeful that I might be able to find a place where I might find a job as all the businesses represented there claimed to be equal opportunity employers.

Alas I was disappointed as I found that the businesses came only because they were willing to hire disabled people if there were jobs available which sadly many of them didn’t at the few booths which advertised actual jobs, the business representatives scoffed at my Women and Gender Studies major and asked derisively what I planned on doing with my degree when I finished.

I also witnessed people show a complete lack of understanding when I overheard a woman tell a girl with an obvious mobility impairment that she would simply have to work harder and double her typing speed if she expected to get a job.

I left the job fair disheartened and without a single job prospect.