So, I make a lot of money for someone my age, especially in this economy, who doesn't come from wealthy parents. In fact I make more than the average U.S. household. The fact that right before landing this job over two years ago, I was a disabled college student who didn't see much hope for my future employability just makes that... weirder.
I don't like making so much money that I feel ashamed when around my friends. I don't like the way people above me smile when they talk about bonuses and raises, like they think they're giving me what I want. I'm not doing this job so I can make yet more than the more-than-I-need they already pay me. For me, the biggest reward is the stability and security, emotional, social, and financial, that I get every day from coming into work where I'm valued and where appropriate professional boundaries are maintained along with a small, fairly stable social group in the form of my team and those we work frequently with. The second-biggest reward is the pleasure of getting to work on intellectual puzzles and hold complex information systems in my head and brainstorm solutions with smart people I can learn a lot from.
The years at this job have taken me high up Maslow's hierarchy of needs--from shakiness on the physiological and safety tiers to having a strong grasp on physiological, safety, and esteem needs (love/belonging is still tenuous for me, but my current relationship and a friendship I made through work are fulfilling those needs--the shakiness is in the small number of people I can rely on). I'm partially self-actualized, but now that the ground beneath me is fairly firm I don't need to keep myself from becoming even more self-actualized.
My problem, then, is on the level of moral self-actualization. I don't want to benefit past my level of need from a messed up valuation system that favors me because I have abilities that corporations have high demand for while the local labor market has low supply of. I'd rather work to make everyone valued, rather than work to be valued more than everyone.
But my personal experience, that transformation from desperate kid to self-confident professional who's willing to follow zir heart? I think that points toward some small ways I or someone else might help people with disabilities become more valued. For me, all it took was someone who saw my talents--despite knowing my impairments--being willing to put themself on the line to recommend me for a good job I wasn't yet qualified for. There've got to be ways to systematically help disadvantaged people find good jobs outside the regular hiring process, which discriminates against them or just plain isn't accessible.
I frequently daydream of mentoring autistic interns in my field.
Are there people whose job it is to go around to businesses and see which are most open to hiring people with disabilities, and then represent clients with disabilities during the hiring process? That is, explain accommodation and alternate communication needs, while reminding the employers that it is in fact against the law to discriminate on the basis of disabilities? I know I read a quote from an adult with selective mutism about how they went for a job interview but lost it because they couldn't speak--and apparently didn't have the opportunity to type through the interview instead, or maybe lacked the self-confidence. I think it would be a big help just to have someone else's support in communicating, "Hey, I may or may not be able to mouthspeak during the interview, but that's not going to stop me," and then have that person there to help them manage anxiety during the interview and reschedule if necessary. It would probably also be a huge relief for a candidate going in if they could know beforehand that the business was fine with hiring someone with an anxiety disorder and was willing to provide support rather than requiring employees to pretend emotions don't exist.
I know, helping people who can get jobs to get jobs doesn't help with equality for all those who can't hold jobs or choose not to, nor does it help make all employed workers equal to each other, but every life transformed for the better is a step in the right direction.
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