Working With A Disability- Day 90

Yo!

How are all my lovely readers today? I was a little achy today with all the weather changes. My tattoo is healing very nicely. It's getting less sore as time progresses. I can now touch it without it hurting too badly.
Now, as the title of today's post suggests I have officially been employed for 90 days (at least according to  the people that try to get cripples hired). I get to start discussing benefits soon, OBOI. I do wonder if my disability will come in to play that, reckon I'll found out soon enough. So far my job experience has been pretty good. I think I'm doing a good job and as far as I am aware I haven't made any mortal enemies! No one has asked why I walk I with a cane, me thinks they just assume Crippie was in a bad car wreck. It doesn't seem like a big elephant in the room or anything, me thinks no one really cares why I am a cripple, I just am.
On to a more important anniversary. Today marks the 3rd anniversary of when we adopted two of our guinea pigs, Emma and Nellie. They started out as scared little baby piggies, now they are very content, well fed piggies.

Nellie

Emma

All of the pigs celebrated with oodles of hay and blueberries, followed by some pretty adorable food comas. It's hard to believe that we've had them for three years. *Sniff sniff* They grow up so fast. 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY EMMA & NELLIE... MOMMY LOVES YOU! 

Crippie's Tippie- Check your weekly forecast so you can prepare yourself for weather changes.

Working With A Disability- Month One

Greetings!

It's 1:45 in the morning and I have absolutely no idea why I'm up right now. I had a very busy day and I didn't have any caffeinated beverages at a terribly late hour, but alas, I'm up. Well, might as well make use of this time and get some bloggin' in.

As some of you may know October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I find it unfortunate that we need an awareness month to remind people to hire cripples. Apart from the financial benefits a company can get from hiring a disabled person I feel that cripples bring an extra set of skills to the table when it comes to the workforce.

Take my profession for example, one of the "major downsides" of being a graphic designer is that you have to please the client even though you will probably not be happy with the results. This "less than ideal" situation is very hard for some designers to understand and cope with, resulting in some very unhappy designers and some realllllyyyyyy unhappy clients. Because of my crippledness my entire life is filled with less than ideal situations! Less than perfect situations like a client wanting some God-aweful design don't bother me like they bother other people. Sure, it's annoying as all hell, but it comes with the territory and when all is said and done it's not really a big deal. The absolutely craptacular experiences in my life have given me a better attitude when it comes to working in general.

My crippledness has also contributed to a very strong work ethic. When I was 10 I couldn't walk and I needed a lot of painful physical therapy in order to walk again. At first I resisted and refused to do my exercises because they caused me some of the worst pain I will ever experience in my life. One day my physical therapist and I had this little conversation.

PT- I need you to bend your knee
Crippie (who was in tears from pain)- I can't, it hurts too much
PT- Do you ever want to walk again?
Crippie (still crying)- Yes *snif snif*
PT- Do you want to get better?
Crippie (still crying)- yes
PT- Then suck it up and bend your damn leg!

Harsh words but they needed to be said. From that day on I realized that if I have to do something unpleasant or painful I have to put on my big girl panties and deal with it . My boss was hesitant to mention to me that I would have to work Saturdays and would have to pull some very long nights at times, and she looked oddly surprised when I told her "Sure, no problem".

Cripples can also bring enhanced problem solving skills to the table. Since our entire lives are comprised of finding ways to do everyday tasks we become quicker and sharper to problem at hand. Cause lets face it, once you've figured out the age old problem of "I can't get up but I need to use the bathroom" you can pretty much think of anything.

So how have my cripple-skills helped me with my first month of work? I haven't yelled at any clients for wanting ugly designs, I haven't complained about working late (I enjoy working late actually... more $$$), I found ways to make some harder to please clients happy, and I found ways to keep my illness to a minimum at work. I can safely say that my disability has not had any major negative impacts with my work and no one in the office seems to mind that I am a cripple. Works for me!

Wow, all this blogging has actually gotten me sleepy. In conclusion hiring a cripple can be an extreme advantage for any company. I think this meme that I made sums this post up pretty well...

Crippie's Tippie- Apart from HIRE ALL THE CRIPPLES, Cheerios make a lovely work time snack.

Working With Pain

Hey Y'all!

I took my pain medication an hour later than I should've and boy am I feeling the consequences. Lesson learned, and I hope you all have learned from my fail.

While I'm on the subject of pain, people have been asking me how pain effects me at the office. I'm not gonna lie, there have been times whilst at work where I've been temporarily rendered useless by pain. I could hardly type a few days ago. My arthritis was so bad that it literally hurt me to press the shift key with my pinky finger. Regardless of how much pain I might be in at any given time I refuse to let my coworkers know it. The moment I put the "pain card" on the table people are gonna start treating me differently. So here is what Crippie does for pain management at work...
1) Take pain medication regularly- I take pain medication every morning before work, usually that helps take away the worst pain. If I am in more pain during the day I just take another pill.
2) Hot Water- When I couldn't type I took a quick bathroom break and ran my hands under hot water for a few minutes. It loosened my hands up enough so I could continue work.
3) Take a super quick break- If my pain is so bad that I literally can't do anything I just sit at my desk for a minute or two until it passes.

While these work relatively well, at the moment my biggest life saver is SQUISHY!

I Shall Call You Squishy, & You Shall Be Mine, & You Shall Be My Squishy

Squishy is technically a "sensory stimulator gel pad" and is used to calm down "agitated, diminished capacity, elderly people". Squishy looks like something you would buy to keep your hands in a good position while working on a keyboard, so no one at work seems to notice the giant blue squishy thing on my desk. Not only does Squishy keep my wrists comfy but it also me message my fingers when they stiff, distracts me when I am in too much pain to focus, and it helps me focus when I get tired. 

Fidget toys in general have kept my functioning for years, but Squishy is probably the more "grown-up" fidget toys I own. One of these days I do a post devoted to the rest of my collection.

Crippie's Tippie- Don't stray from your medication schedule. Bad things happen when you forget your pills.

Working With A Disability- Day Nine

Howdy Y'all

Crippie had a very good day today. I got my very first pay check today. It's little normal moments like that that make me feel... well... normal. Work is going pretty well if I do say so myself. Listening to music and nomming on smarties and gum definitely help me stay focused. The one downside of the smartie noshing is that my boss literally thinks I am addicted to them. I need to find more nosh items. I'm looking for portable, not messy food that is sold in giant quanities. Any suggestions readers?

Moving on to a question that I have been asked recently, "how do your co-workers treat you?" So far all of my coworkers have been wonderful to the little newbie. No one has asked why I walk with a cane. I get the feeling that people are curious but they are afraid to ask. Me thinks people are afraid of offending me and causing a big discrimination issue in the office. The only time my disability was brought up was when I mentioned that the only ramp to the building is blocked off, and how that is really not a good idea. I was taken into a back room to be told that the ramp is only "sorta" blocked and that it is still usable. It's kinda weird how people feel the need to be "hush hush" about the whole "I'm a cripple" thing. Oh well, as long as my coworkers are nice to me that's all that matters.

Off-topic, I took a very cute picture of my guinea pig Aggie. Aggie is my chunky monkey.

Crippie's Question- To my fellow crippies in the workforce, do you tell your bosses what's wrong with you? Did they ask? 

Working With A Disability: Day 3

Hi Everybody!

Today was my third day of work. It went pretty well. I wasn't terribly achy, I guess the whole "not raining" thing helps. It also looks like I am going to be working more days a week, but fewer hours each day, so my chronic fatigue is very happy.
Speaking of chronic fatigue, I've been trying to find ways of coping with it during work. As mentioned in the prior post, I tried noshing on "smarties" which seems to work rather nicely. Naturally if I nosh on smarties several times a day every week I won't have teeth next year. The simple solution to this is obtain a crap load of chewing gum. Chewing gum is actually a highly accepted way of dealing with fatigue, pain, and short attention spans. Today I also experimented with listening to music. Of course this depends on where you work, but all the designers where I work listen to their headphones. As long as I only use one earbud my boss doesn't mind. Listening to music really helped me focus today.
On a totally different note, anyone who has checked out my Tumblr, might have seen this little face...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the newest addition to my family, Helen. Helen is a three year old Shih Tzu who enjoys snuggles, food, and belly rubs. Helen is also blind (hence the name Helen) so she occasionally rams into a wall. Helen is technically my sister's dog so... I'M AN AUNTIE!

Crippie's Tippie- Don't let chronic fatigue get in the way of what you have to do, simple tricks can help you function pretty normally.

Working With A Disability: Day 1

Ohai Everyone!

My first day on the job was today, boy howdy am I tired. Work itself went perfectly fine, once I figure everything out there I be quite good at it. Now the main issue will always be "how will my disability effect my work". From what I can tell so far my main problems will be...
1) Chronic Fatigue- I get really tired really easily, I didn't physically do a whole lot today but I am exhausted nonetheless. I'm gonna try noshing on "smarties" throughout the day tomorrow. Maybe that'll help.
2) Issues standing- Part of my job requires me to use a copy machine for 5-10 minutes at a time. While that seems like nothing it was painful to stand there for that short time. Not painful enough to make me not do that job, but still painful.
3) Lack of Handicap Accessibility- Apparently the designers of the building a work at didn't believe in elevators, and the only ramp outside has been chained off for months (I didn't know that was even legal). Again, I'll manage without elevators and ramps, it's just kinda a bummer that they didn't think to make 'em.

So I guess the general answer to that question is "having a disability makes it harder to work, but its something you kinda have to deal with". Massive plus about being a cripple, I get the handicap parking space! That's right... the n00b has the best spot in the office!

Crippie's Tippie- Make buildings with ramps and elevators, it's nice to be able to let cripples in buildings.

CRIPPIE GOT A JOBBIE

Hello!

First off, sorry for the lack of post this week. We just got our power and internet back. This past week has certainly been a challenge but we managed to keep everyone fairly sane and none of our pets died, which is a huge bonus.
Moving on to the title, CRIPPIE'S GREAT JOB HUNT HAS COME TO AN END!!! I saw a job posting a few months back that fit my requirements of
1- Being within a safe driving distance, bonus points if I can avoid a highway
2- Something that is willing to accept recent college grads
3- Something I can physically do
Naturally I applied to the position, a few months passed without hearing a peep from them so I continued on with my search. Last week, right before Irene was gonna hit this place gave a me a call and asked if I could come over for an interview. 24 hours before Irene hit I went to said interview. First off, the place is about a 20 minute drive from me with no highways... FREAKIN AWESOME. Second, it's an entry level design position... COOL! Third and most importantly, I'm qualified for the job and can totally kick butt at it. The interview went really well and they said they would call me by Tuesday if the wanted to me work for them. Over the next 2 days the area that the job is located in, as well as my area got rather flooded. The Tuesday deadline came and went, no call. I figured there would be some weather related delays seeing as how cars were floating minutes away from the office. After Thursday had past with no calls I doubted that they were gonna call at all. I was feeling kinda down about the whole "If I wasn't a cripple I would have a job right now" thing but my mom said "You're time will come". Go figure that time was the next morning when the people called asking if I would like to work for them. After calmly working out some details on the phone I proceeded to jump around my house like a babbling idiot for the remainder of the day.
So I start my first official job on Tuesday! I shall keep you guys updated on what it's like to be a cripple in the workforce. Since I have chosen the "desk-horse" job of graphic designer hopefully my disability won't get in the way more than it already has. Oh, and if you were wondering my disability didn't come up in the interview, I used a smaller standard cane than matched my outfit better than my usual forearm crutch.
Right now I am incredibly happy with how everything is going. I knew finding a job was going to be a massive challenge, and it was. It was a long, hard, and very frustrating process, but it's over now! Being a cripple, I'm used to long arduous challenges. Whether it is finding a pair a shoes that fits or finding a job I can perform it takes patients and the realization that sooner or later it will come. On the plus side, I found a job before some of my able-bodied classmates.

Crippie's Tippie- If you work hard enough, you can achieve anything.