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Posted by Bob Segal,man, Ph.D. (C)Copyright Robert Z. Segalman, 1988 You Can't Work, Or Can You? I became a California State employee in July 1972, close to the time that McGovern selected Eagleton and Nixon encountered Watergate, and I'm still working for the same employer which is more than you can say for either of them. Finding employment was particularly difficult for someone with a visible disability before legislation mandating employment of the handicapped. I had cerebral palsy from birth, used a cane, spoke with slurred speech, and sometimes drooled. THE INITIAL SCREENING By the time I found a job, I had sent out 300 resumes over 6 months, and that was before professional people began having trouble finding State jobs. I first visited the California State Personnel Board (SPB) to complete applications for all job classifications for which I was eligible. The Board notified me by postcard to return first for written and then oral examinations for each class. Each time I passed an oral exam the Board ranked me on a "eligible list" of potential state employees for that classification. Supervisors in state agencies may hire anyone in the top three ranks of an eligible list. Anyone who accepts a job or declines three job offers is removed from the list and the remaining eligible candidates are upgraded. This upgrading process eventually put me in the top ranks of several lists. I knew when a list had "moved" sufficiently for that to happen when I first received inquiries from state offices filling positions on that list. At that point I obtained a roster of agencies using that classification and sent each one a letter, resume, and copy of my state application requesting an interview regarding any vacancy they had in that job classification. I followed with a phone call in three weeks if there was no response. (Today, obtaining a State job is less complicated with the advent of SPB's Limited Examination and Appointment Program for persons with Disabilities (LEAP). For many types of entry level jobs, State offices can hire persons with visual, hearing, speech, physical or developmental disabilities directly from unranked LEAP lists without going through the usual examination process. Instead, applicants who meet the minimum requirements for a particular job classification seek certification from the California Department of Rehabilitation that their disability meets LEAP standards (although you do not need to be a client of that department to be certified). They then apply for and complete a readiness evaluation interview and are placed on an unranked LEAP list. These people are hired under temporary authorization called "TAU" and then later are appointed to the regular civil service classification if they successfully perform the duties of the job. This system was designed to increase the proportion of state employees with disabilities. SPB offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento all distribute LEAP brochures describing the application and appointment process.) Even after all my efforts the odds were probably still against me as unemployment levels among the disabled have always been amazingly high, and my problems speaking to potential employers by telephone worsened those odds. I placed calls myself to assure callers of my telephone capability, yet many employers lost interest after 20 seconds of listening to me speak. UNUSUAL BAIT The supervisor who finally hired me was pleased to lure a Ph.D. into a state job which only required a master's. My doctorate appeared to compensate for the disability. Jokingly I wondered what the exchange values were in this process. How much education compensates for how much of a disability? Had I held an MD but been blind and deaf, would I still have been offered that same master's level job (if accommodations enabled me to do the work required)? Other people with disabilities tell me of similar success obtaining employment because of being unusually overqualified. Such tactics are not new. Physicians immigrating to this country often take jobs as lab technicians upon arrival, while immigrant lawyers become law clerks until they can pass the state bar. A JOB I COULD DO My first job was as a Psychiatric Social Worker in a hospital for the developmentally disabled. The staff worked in teams, and fortunately there was a vacancy for a team member with writing skills. My colleagues interviewed the clients and their families while I wrote case reports, interview summaries, and correspondence. I was so pleased to be employed that I did not mind the work or being unable to use my Ph.D. research skills. Most staff members preferred interviewing to written work, so the arrangement was satisfactory for most of my years at the hospital. By the fourth staff reorganization seven years later, however, there were not enough counselors to divide the work into oral and written tasks; so I transferred out of the hospital into a research job. Like everyone else in a first job I made my share of mistakes. When anyone parked illegally in the handicapped parking, I took great joy blocking them in with my car and wandering off. I particularly enjoyed doing this to physicians as they were coddled by everyone especially the hospital administrator. ACCOMMODATIONS In addition to restructuring my job to limit oral tasks, the employer provided an electric typewriter to substitute for my poor handwriting and a telephone amplifier for my whispered speech. My colleagues eventually introduced me to most of the hospital staff in order to prevent them from mistaking me for one of the adult clients with cerebral palsy. As with ethnic minorities, people frequently have trouble telling us apart. Many people with cerebral palsy who walk with an awkward gait and talk with slurred speech are also mentally retarded (although many of them are not). Because the temptation to stereotype all people with cerebral palsy at the hospital as mentally retarded patients was strong, the staff had trouble viewing me as a professional person. My first day on the job, I was asked to leave the employee credit union because the staff believed that I was a client who had wandered in and not an employee trying to open an account. MY SPECIAL EFFORTS In addition to accommodations made by the employer, I also had to make accommodations. Handicapped employees often value their jobs more and exert extra effort to do a good job. They have difficulty finding jobs and try hard to keep the ones they have. Most of them have especially good work and attendance habits. I was the only social worker who wore a white shirt and tie every day which reinforced my professional image and differentiated me from the clients. Every chance I could I used vacation time when I was sick in an attempt to keep a good sick leave record. Call it paranoia--maybe? Perhaps, however, some people with disabilities have a healthy kind of anxiety about their jobs that make them better workers. They may feel that they do not have the option to goof off that other workers do. When I took the job, I even thought of shaving my beard to improve my appearance. Yet arriving at work each day with a scratched face (resulting from a spastic hand manipulating an electric razor) seemed less desirable than arriving with a well-trimmed beard. AN UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY My most rewarding work at the hospital concerned an eight-year-old girl diagnosed with cerebral palsy and mentally retardation who I will call "Joan". She had been placed in a sign language class as some retarded children can learn to communicate with a few basic signs. When Joan learned to sign unusually easily, a psychologist tested her intelligence using sign language and discovered that it was normal. Because she could not speak, Joan had been misdiagnosed as mentally retarded. After starting to sign, Joan learned self-help skills quickly enabling her family to take her home to live. I taught Joan and her family some of the tricks for living with cerebral palsy. With myself as a role model, I gave them hope for her future. CONCLUSION Although recent years have been more professionally rewarding with interesting assignments, more articles published, and higher salary, I don't regret those years as a psychiatric social worker. After the hectic years of graduate school, I was delighted to have evenings and week-ends free. In the process I met my wife, learned to drive a car, and bought my first house. ---------------------------------- The author is a Research Analyst with the California Department of Justice and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine at Loma Linda University. A version of this paper was published in MAINSTREAM MAGAZINE, April, 1988
on January 15, 2007, 1:01 am, in reply to "help to find work"
Perhaps your son would be interested in the following article that I wrote about finding work despite my CP:
by
Robert Z. Segalman, Ph.D.
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