I'm not trash, I have a job

New week guys!!! Happy Monday :) So remember those people I talked about earlier in the blog, specifically (S), yeeeeeaaahhhh, her husband text me one night telling me I am trash because I don't have a job and I didn't get an education and that I am what is wrong with America HAHAHAHA.....I am what is wrong with America?  Wait until I tell you all about my job, I am the farthest thing from trash.  In 2011, I graduated with a Bachelor's in Psychology.  I first used that degree to help people with mental health issues and that was TOUGH and SCARY so later in 2011, I began my career as a Service Coordinator for people who have  developmental disabilities.  I have done that same job for 7 years and am still going strong.

Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions that are due to mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, especially in "language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living. Some of the most common are:

-Intellectual disability
-Traumatic Brain Injury
-Cerebral Palsy
-Down Syndrome
-Autism
-Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
-Spina Bifida
-Paraplegia
-Genetic disorders
-Chromosome abnormalities 

I work with people from birth to death.  I work with people who can and can't talk and who can and can't walk.  I work with people who live in their natural homes, nursing homes, and group homes.  I even sometimes attend IEP meetings at schools.  My job includes:

• Ensuring quality of life is good
• Helping them set goals anywhere from going on a vacation to just maintaining their level of functioning
• Advocating for their rights, their wants, and their needs
• Monitoring their health, safety, environment, money, staff, rights, medication, and documentation
• Securing funding
• Linking to resources

Unfortunately, people of this population are targets of abuse, neglect, and mismanagement of funds.  Many of them don't have family and some don't even have friends.  In a nut shell, it is my responsibility to make sure they are all ok, being treated right, and that all of their needs are met.  I have cried a lot with families, I have heard a lot of stories that I never thought I would hear, I have been mad, and I get to laugh A LOT.  If you know anybody with a developmental disability, you will understand when I say THEY ARE THE BEST PEOPLE YOU WILL EVER MEET; most of them just love you because you are there to see them.  Every once in a while there is a mental diagnosis mixed in with the developmental diagnosis which gets rough but all in all, they are great.  I have a purpose every day.  I get to give my all, helping others.  Some of the best times of my life have been going to holiday or annual parties put on for them and dancing and singing my heart out hand in hand with them.

Educate yourself on people first language-

People first language emphasizes the person, not the disability.  By placing the person FIRST, the disability is no longer the primary, defining characteristic of an individual, but one of several aspects of the whole person.

Don't say: the autistic girl

Say: Sharon, who has autism

Don't say: retard

Say: intellectual disability

A great thing about my job is that I get to make my own schedule and usually on Thursday and Friday I get to work from home.  I am sure that because I could be seen around town at random times on random days people just ASSUMED I didn't have a job but I guess that is what you get for assuming.

Be proud of your job and if you are in a field where you help others, HOLLA!! :)