Tag Archives: Disability

The Bright Side of Focusing on Recovery

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It is the start of another work week and sadly I am unemployed due to disability reasons. A disability with major stigma attached to it which is mental health challenges. As much as I am not a fan of my disability and the stigma that goes along with it; I am glad that I need it for my chosen career path as a peer specialist.

As much as I wish I was working as a peer specialist or working at all, I am happy to be focusing on my recovery. My recovery is key to not only my chosen career field but to my everyday life. Life that includes a life worth living. A life worth living with a cat, friends, loving partner and a wonderful physical health team as well as an awesome mental health team. I guess what I am saying is that the bright side of focusing on my recovery at the moment is that I can completely reevaluate what a life worth living looks like for me at the moment.

I do not have much more to write about in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Daily Prompt; What Colleges have you attended?

Posted on by Gertie
Bloganuary writing prompt
What colleges have you attended?
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I sadly have not had the luxury of being able to attend college for various reasons. One of those reasons which is the main reason is money and the lack there of due to living in poverty most of my life. I am aware that there are programs there such as government grants as well as various scholarships however you have to qualify for such things.

Money might be the major reason why I have not had the luxury to attend college but my various disabilities have gotten in the way. Or maybe I should say I let my disabilities get in the way and I was taught at a young age to never allow my disabilities get in the way of my education as I can easily figure out what accommodations I need to help me with education.

Making A HUGE Life Decision

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! Once I am able to go back to work I will be putting in my thirty day notice at work. I love my job but I am getting a corrective action plan on an annual review that was done three and a half months early. Every time I asked my supervisor what I could work on and she only brought up one thing which I have slowly but surely improved on. I was even told I “was not the right fit for the job.” They could have gotten me canned during my sixth months of probationary time. I think they are doing all this due to a disability thing but that is okay. I am already looking for new jobs.

Thanks for listening.

Things Not Exactly Going My Way but I’m Okay With It

Posted on by Gertie

Let’s just start with the new job. I wasn’t exactly fired but I didn’t exactly quit. We (my supervisor and I) agreed the job wasn’t a good fit for me and I agree. Plus the commute sucked shit. Plus I missed spending time with my kitty cat, Billie Dean.

I spent a lot of time away from him at the new job I no longer have. I love my Billie and I know he loves me. He is a very sweet cat and I am sure he is grateful that the Seattle weather has cooled down a lot. Billie had expensive dental work done and will go back for a follow up with the vet a a couple of weeks.

I plan on going to the social security office next week to see if I can get back on it. As much as I wish I was working, maybe I need a break to take care of my disability.

On top of other issues I am having land phone line and internet issues which suck shit. I know a lot of small crap is going on and I am doing okay with it.

I don’t have much to say expect thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope you all have a great weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 12: Critique a Piece of Work

Posted on by Gertie

I don’t have anything to critique at the moment. This will be a very short post. I will say that my critique would be my new job and the great way they are doing training. My new employer is doing an awesome job with training and is willing to be accommodable to those of us living with a disability. So far I give the training an A.

Mixture of Feelings Going Oz About the New Job

Posted on by Gertie

Today, I had to go to an in person training for HR and IT stuff. Now I need to do some online training. Most of it through Relias. There is know why I can get 20ish hours down by 4:30ish to morning especially when I have other online trainings going on tomorrow. I have training on Wednesday and Thursday but nothing on Friday so I asked for a disability accommodation to finish the Relias training on Friday since I have nothing going on Friday. Worse case scenario I get up early to do the Relias training. I still think I’m going to do a good job at this work. Its just getting through the training.

Taking A Sick Day From Work

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I am taking a sick day from work today. I am taking it off today because one of my disabilities is sadly acting up. I did let my supervisor know via text to her cell phone as well as an email to her work email and a voicemail to her office phone. I just wanted to make sure I covered my ass even though my supervisor is beyond awesome. I admire my supervisor and how well she works with clients. I also did let Human Resources (HR) know that I am out due to my disability. I let HR know it was disability related to also cover my ass. I do plan on letting my supervisor know tomorrow when I am in the office that I was out due to my disability. I do not fear getting fired for calling out sick especially when it comes to my disability. I don’t tell my supervisor the full story about being out due to disability because I don’t want to put her in an awkward situation if people ask her why. My direct supervisor and the HR director are both amazing people.

Since I am taking care of my health today by taking care of my disability, I still plan on doing some reading for work. Both of the books that I am reading help me both professionally and personally. I am really enjoying the books and have started another blog post about these books and how they intersect with my professional and personal life.

The one thing I did do was go to the pharmacy to pick up my medication. Picking up my meds was extremely important because they help with my health issues as well as with my disabilities. So, I am happy that I got my meds.

Since I am hope sick from work I not only will be spending it reading the books I mentioned earlier in this blog post, I am spending the day with my cat, Billie Dean without any interruption. I love my cat so very much. The weather here in Seattle today makes it easy to spend it reading as I hang out with my cat, Billie.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader do read my blog. If it wasn’t for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

An Update on How Life is Going

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It has been about a week and a half since my last post and I have been dealing with a great deal. First and fore most my mental health hasn’t been the best and sadly my job is not helping. In fact my job is not the best fit for me because it is an on call twelve hour night shift position and reeks havoc on my already horrific sleep schedule. Plus not knowing from day to day if I am going to need to drop every to go home and get some sort of sleep to be able be able to semi function at work and for me this is not helpful. Sadly, I am the only on call for this position so I get called in more times than I am able to work per my disability. I realize it is not my colleagues fault nor my direct supervisors fault as none of those individuals are the ones that have a direct say on who gets hired. And on that note, I am going to be putting in my two week notice at some point in the next couple of days due to the fact I know this job is not the best fit for me especially when it comes to sleep. Not only has my job been affecting my sleep, it has been affecting my physical health and this not a good thing. Worst of all it has been affecting my mental health disability which is not a good thing.

As far my job affecting many areas of my life I have decided I will be turning in my two weeks notice in the next few days. I am not really wanting to do so but since it is effecting my mental health, sleep, health and mental health, it is the best thing for me to do. Yes, I will be looking for a new job even if it is going back to working at a grocery for the time being.

Another thing that has happened is that the Beginning Comics Storytelling art class I have been taking has ended this past Friday (June 14th) which was really sad for me because I really enjoyed it. The best part of the class that everyone in the class got a copy of the comic book we put together. It has various types of comics in it as everyone had their own comic to put into the book and it is really cool. It is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. I am really going to miss my classmates as well.

I do not have much more to say so I am going to end this post. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and/or following my blog as it is greatly appreciated from my end of things. I hope you all have an awesome day, Hell, I hope your week goes extremely well. Again, thank you for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Stuck in the Hospital, Mason’s Story

Posted on by Gertie

When I saw this on a friends Facebook page I had to read further and decided to reblog it. This saddens me a great deal.

Stuck in the Hospital

My name is John Short and I am an Emergency Medicine Physician at Mason General Hospital in Shelton, Washington. The following is my first-hand account of an ongoing injustice perpetrated by the WA state government against a disabled person:

Mason.jpg

“Mason”* has been abandoned by DSHS and the State of Washington at Mason General Hospital (MGH) in Shelton, WA since the 12th of December, 2018 when he was brought to the emergency department for behavioral problems (no medical problems were apparent). He has been a client of DSHS and the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) since he was a child. He moved from another part of the state 2 days before being taken to the ER. Unfortunately, the residential facility that had accepted him found that they were unable to continue to take care of him. They requested help from law enforcement and the Designated Crisis Responder (DCR). The residential facility believed…

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11:00 pm Randomness

Posted on by Gertie

Hello, World!!! It is eleven o’clock at night in my corner of the world. I went to a work training this evening and enjoyed it immensely. Talking about work I was asked earlier today (Wednesday) if I could cover someone’s shift tomorrow (Thursday) night and I said yes. I need the hours and extra money. It is going to be my first shift by myself and I am okay with that. At least I know that there will be two other staff members downstairs managing the emergency shelter that if I need help that I will be able to get it. So, even though I am sleepy right now and could maybe fall asleep, I am trying to stay up all night so I can sleep tomorrow during the day. Like I have said before my shifts are at night. They are from 8:00 pm to 8:00 am. So, I figure if I stay awake tonight I can sleep tomorrow and manage to stay awake during my twelve hour night shift tomorrow (Thursday).

Besides attending a training for work today, I also went to a group therapy session. The group was about communication. I enjoyed the group and I plan on going to it next Wednesday. I am hoping it will help me with my communication skills especially when it comes to health communication.

I not only attended group therapy, I saw my therapist today. We discussed the assault that happened to me at the hospital a few days ago. We also discussed the shooting that happened in front of my apartment building earlier today. We discussed how both can affect my mental health specifically my PTSD.  I really like my therapist and he is really good at his job.

Before I forget I emailed my supervisor and three others from work regarding my disability without divulging too much about it. I discussed with them in the email two my accommodations and will let them know my other accommodations by November 2nd which is in a week and two days. I am proud of myself for letting my employer know about my disability and my needs regarding my disability.

I need to figure out away to stay up all night or at least most of the night so I can sleep during the day tomorrow (Thursday) so I can work effectively Thursday night into Friday morning.  So, if I post a great deal tonight, it is because I am trying to stay awake and not sleep. It will have nothing to do with not being able to not sleep. Who knew blogging would help me stay awake for me to sleep during the day.

Well, I am sure I will be blogging again later tonight. Not sure what I will be blogging about later on but I am sure some of it will be a bunch bullshit nobody really wants to read or hear about. So I hope that the blogging through the night will not only help me but help you my reader.

Thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things. It means a lot to me from the bottom of my heart. Again, thank you for reading. I hope all of you have a good nights sleep as I attempt to stay awake so I can sleep during the day tomorrow (Thursday) so I can stay awake for work Thursday night. Good night everyone. Peace Out, World