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I'm in a "life is unfair", "feel sorry for me" mood. Hey, I'm entitled once in a while.
I need my wisdom teeth taken out. Badly. I'm taking 3-4 doses of painkillers a day. Yes, I'm partially responsible for the situation I'm in. I'm a wimp, and I put off doing anything about it as long as it wasn't causing any problems for me. But now I'm in pain, and I can't find an oral surgeon who will accept my Medicaid coverage. The ones who do take it, will only do so with a current referral from a dentist with whom they have a "working relationship". And there's the problem. I don't have a dentist, because about a year ago, nearly all of the dentists in the state stopped accepting Medicaid as well. The reason? Because the state government doesn't "get" that while most of these dentists would be more than willing to provide the labor portion of their services to their low income patients for free, they do have costs; and every time they see a patient for which they are only paid a little over half of those costs, they are being driven into the red. So here I sit, in pain, and no one wanting to help me because it's going to cost them money.
Now, if by some miracle I suddenly found a job and got some real dental coverage, I'd be all set. But for nearly three years of trying, that hasn't happened for me yet either. Though the law says a disabled person should have just as much opportunity for employment as anyone else, it just doesn't work out that way. The trap I keep falling into is lack of work experience for my age. The only jobs I have had are a couple of temporary, part-time positions, and one working at home for my dad. The truth is I needed to gain some independence before there would be any way I could handle a full-time job away from home. Only now I am able to take care of myself enough not to need someone with me for the greater part of the day. So yes, I lack work experience. How exactly am I to acquire that experience, if that is the thing keeping me from getting a job?
As frustrating as my job hunting experiences have been, however, I'm lucky. I've never been asked stupid questions about my intelligence. I was just chatting with a friend who is also disabled, and she relayed some experiences to me. One interviewer, holding in his hand her typed resume containing a "computer experience" section which filled half the page, asked her slowly, "Do you know how to use a computer?" And that's not even the worst one. Another, after being handed an application she had just filled out in the waiting area, asked her if she knew how to read! What the hell is wrong with these people?!
This concludes this uncharacteristic rant. We now return you to your regularly scheduled always cheerful Carly.
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