Phyllis Said:

Isn't the "ability to work" a broad definition if you think about it?

We Answered:

Some people with disabilities, on account of their disabilities cannot work full-time or work in competitive employment.

My son is one of these people. He has about 3.5 - 4 hours that he can pay attention to work tasks of any kind (cleaning house, working his business, going to college, etc and than he zones out. He can fall asleep right before your eyes. I thought he would eventually grow out of this, but it is so mentally exhausting for him to do what most people take for granted that I have come to accept this of him.

He did have a voc rehab job for awhile. He got paid a supportive employment wage - not a full minimum wage. Had he been able to work full-time (which he was not) it would not have been equal to an SSI payment. Most voc rehab jobs pay an alternative wage, most are not full-time, and most have no future where anything will be anything different.

Some voc rehab jobs are trial work period jobs. A person who has never been employed competitively or at all tries to work out there in the competitive world. They can try it for 9 months and see how they do. During these 9 months they still get SSI. If at the end of 9 months they realize that they can't do it - they return to unemployment status and continue to get SSI.

You Princess, thank you for finally being honest, have job skills that you received at college - a clerical cetificate I think is what you called it. Your disability does not prevent you from working. Disability discrimination or limited job opportunities or high unemployment prevent you from finding a job where you live.

I graduated from college in 1998 and could not find a job, so I moved. I went to grad school while I looked for a job. I continued to look when I graduated and then moved. Where I live now I searched for a job for 2 years and was about to move again when I finally found a part-time job. The next year I found another part-time job. I lost one part-time job after two years and got another one. Then a few months ago I found a third part-tiem job. IT IS NOT EASY living with a disability and finding work that meets your accommodation needs. But do not give up.