How Labor Day Makes Me Feel as a Job Seeker With Cerebral Palsy

For many people, Labor Day is a reason to relax and enjoy the long weekend. They don’t have to think about getting up early Monday morning to go to work. Unfortunately as a person with cerebral palsy, I see Labor Day like any other Monday. I am sure there are a lot of individuals like myself who are feeling the same way, or perhaps worse. Here is the reason why.

Back in July 2016, I wrote a story for The Mighty about people with disabilities who struggle with unemployment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (July 20, 2015):

“People who have completed higher levels of education were more likely to be employed than were those with less education. At all levels of education, however, people with a disability were much less likely to work than were people with no disability. For example, 26.1 percent of people with a disability who had completed at least a bachelor’s degree were employed in 2014; among college graduates with no disability, 75.9 percent were employed.” *

When I wrote the story, I was searching for a job, and was very optimistic about finding employment. Now I must admit I am part of those statistics, something I was hoping not to experience. Despite having a Bachelor’s degree, I have been unable to get a job. One of my major dreams was to run my own nonprofit, Rainbow of Talent. I was looking for a job where I could use my skills as a writer and advocate for people with disabilities. That didn’t happen.

Each day it’s becoming harder to support myself. My bills are piling up, and I don’t know what to do. I  submitted my resume to GoodTemp. They help people with disabilities to find jobs. Their response was that my resume wasn’t strong enough.

I searched for work locally and spread the word among contacts. So far I haven’t be able to find any job. It has been hard for me to stay home and become aware of my sad reality, especially after all the struggles I went through to earn a degree. I didn’t want to stay home all day long. That was not what I went to college for. My major goal is to someday be able to say on Labor Day I will be off from work like the rest of the population.

Juana Ortiz’s book “I Made It” is available at www.juanamortiz.com and on Amazon.  

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Photo by contributor.