Get a job! A look at Disability & Employment

This was a comment once left on a blog post where I was speaking about the Ontario Disability Supports Program and it's flawed and somewhat discriminatory rules. One's that definitely hurt those with disabilities like me from being able to play a role in financially contributing to my household.  See when living with a disability that affects your ability to work you often find people, some even close friends & family who ignorantly assume you must be lazy and simply choose not to work.

To be honest this comment really didn't upset me but just confirmed the ignorance so many of us face. See my inability to work actually resulted from my disability and suffering a work-related injury in the form of tendinitis. An injury workers compensation decided to blame on my pre-existing condition of Becker muscular dystrophy. This led to them cutting me off from receiving any and all benefits including physiotherapy, after this that was it for me. With my injury not improving I had to make the tough decision to stop working and seeing a major drop in my income.

Even all these years later some days when I over do it the tendonitis returns leaving my upper shoulders and rotator cuff in excruciating pain. Best way to describe it is that it feels like someone is actually trying to rip my arms off. It's truly debilitating.

So when someone leaves such an ignorant comment it can be frustrating but I don't get mad. as I'm sure others have faced this type of ignorance as well. My only message to those judging us for not having a job is instead of judging us and trying to bring us down, take the time to learn about the issues we face. They need to open their minds to the fact that some of us can't work and that many with disabilities who want to work also face discrimination, leading to an uphill battle in finding anyone willing to give them a chance.

See before leaving nasty comments these people really need to take the time to learn about the issues affecting those with disabilities. As it's better for them to educate themselves and try to help, if they're not willing to do that then they should stay out of our comment sections. It's definitely better for them to read our stories and join us in fighting for more job opportunities for those who want to work and better government support for those who are unable to.

Facts are with everyone’s help and the disability community working together we might just end up improving the lives of future generations.