You were disabled and realize it is not getting better, and no one seems to be able to fix the issue. You’re stuck laying down most of the day, you have enough mobility to function at home, but anything outside of home leaves you in bad shape beyond your control where you are not professionally functional. What do you do to earn a living and survive?
This is not a hypothetical for me.
I’m lucky enough that I’d be able to just continue to do what I currently do, and write code.
Anything on the phone and or computer.
There are also services in 1st world countries that help you get setup
Anything from Programming to helpdesk to customer service to ASMR and anything else in between is possible.
You can do it. This is good first step to ask.
If you can divulge your country and or state there may be people on Lemmy who can direct you to specific resources
Southern California
You file for government disability. Hopefully during the filing process you can struggle through survival for a few years because the govt disability filing process takes a few years until MAYBE being approved, but everyone is always denied the first time, then you have to appeal and go through the several years process again. This is one reason why so many people are homeless by the way.
I tried that. I’m in a weird position where it is impossible to prove what is actually wrong with me in a way that I can get through disability. I did it once and was denied because I can’t prove anything conclusive. I’ve been to everyone reputable and a few less reputable; 12 neurosurgeons or specialists. They all spend 5 minutes reading the radiologist’s report, don’t see a thing they want to operate on, and spend another few minutes talking you out of the room. None of them seem willing to solve problems and look deeper.
You may have something different but if you have me/cfs you need to hit up the support groups, you can prove disability with a 2-Day CPET test.
I’m not in the US but many of the Americans in my support group were denied the first time they applied and got it on the second.
I’m not sure what the acronyms mean.
A CPET is a cardiopulmonary exercise test. The 2 day CPET is when you get the test and then get it again 24 hours later.
People with me/cfs have different results than sedentary controls, so it’s a good way of helping prove disability.
If you didn’t know what ME/CFS is (myalgic encephalomyelitis) then you haven’t been diagnosed with it and none of this applies to you, but I thought it was worth mentioning in case you had.
I don’t have ME/CFS, but thanks for the reply. I’m kinda in a worse spot in that I was an amateur bicycle racer before I got the broken neck and back. I don’t ride like I did back then but I’m still relatively fit. My problems are related to simply holding posture. Even for a 2 day test, I think it would struggle to really show my issue. If I do anything sitting or standing for more than a few minutes I start degrading fast. I can push through the pain for quite awhile, I just get really stupid and lack attention and focus. That by itself is not the real problem. The real problem is that pushing like this will make it impossible for me to sleep much at all. The next day I will be a good bit worse than the first, but if I do it again, the cycle will continue until I shut down like a mindless zombie and I am flat out unstable after a couple of weeks without sleep.
I can ride a bike for an hour and a half but I know how to set up a road bike so that my back is completely neutral. The damage I have is super rare and from getting folded over backwards. My damage is thoracic (between the shoulder blades) almost all back injuries most people experience are in areas away from the ribs. Where mine is, it makes posture feel like lifting weights; doable but not for very long.
That sucks in terms of proving disability in your country (you would be eligible already in mine but since disability here is only half of minimum wage it’s not really the solution like it is where you are).
But it’s really fantastic that you are able to do so much!! That’s way better. You’re going to be able to work from home lying down. Lots of cool ideas in here.
I think you should still apply for disability every year. Maybe find a support group or organisation for people with broken necks/spinal injuries, they might know some aspects of the process.
Good luck to you. I know what it’s like to lose everything, and I really hope you are able to rebuild some kind of life for yourself.
Well fuck this sounds familiar… I fucked up my shoulder 12+ years ago but didn’t really notice how bad it got over time and now my arm hurts with most things I do. However, I’m not old enough for them to want to risk anything.
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In that situation I would try to be a vtuber.
I’m told what typically takes place is that the person ends up on disability and works a part time call center style job though.
Edit: might wanna check with your local churches to see if they have a support network you can lean on if you’re ok with religion.
I could continue my current job, working from home as a software developer.
The problem I run into is not knowing what it takes professionally. I’ve learned a lot but I’m just a hobbyist and have no clue how to get past that phase. I struggle with complexity, but I know hardware fairly well at the registers/stack/ALU level and can make a gagillion IF statements do anything wrong for a radar proximity triggered cat toy in Arduino. I just don’t know where to go with that and without any networking potential it seems a little hopeless.
Make projects for a portfolio, throw them on a public GitHub repo and shop that around to employers.
Make sure to have neat, commented and mostly polished code that covers a decent breadth of topics. Like authentication or low level hardware handling.
Also try your hand at submitting contributions (and getting them accepted) to larger open source projects and point to those as well
NGL, the employment scene for junior devs…isn’t the best rn, expect to have to put in hundreds of applications with few if any call backs for a while. BUT companies are always hiring for good hardware devs junior or not, so you might get lucky
You can also do temp work, English language teaching, proofreading, data entry.
Alongside what cm0002 said, I’ve found that finding recruiters manually and putting yourself out there has significantly increased my callback rate. They really know how to pitch you a lot of the time, and I wish I knew this as a junior.
Basically, look for postings by TekSystems, Jobot and other recruiting companies and put in applications to their systems (make sure to only apply for a few so as to not seem like a “spray and pray” job seeker). Hopefully, you will get a callback and / or emails about positions. Eventually, you will get a call from a recruiter from one of the recruiting firms and they will ask you a bunch of questions about your tech stack, experience, what your preferences are for positions, etc and they will basically file you away for later. When they find a fit, they reach out.
It’s great to have like 5 - 10 of these recruiters (from different companies) since you know you’ll be getting calls even in dry periods like this one.
Also, I really cannot emphasize this enough - LEARN DATA STRUCTURES AND ALGORITHMS. It sucks to get a call from a company, have them set up a technical interview and then fail it and lose out on the opportunity.
This Udemy course is a great place to start if you know JS and it regularly goes on sale for $15 like every two weeks (not sponsored, it’s just genuinely a fantastic course and it’s worth every penny at any price, but for $15 it’s a steal if you know JS): https://www.udemy.com/share/101WNk3@wU2BBFJCNjPisNOAOq7G4IopJulzdWP6mkQD_4_vkOPjMfs8zL8f8CUVsevYRvCjBg==/
Job #1 is researching all available disability programs you can apply for.
I lived this for years.
First, you’ll want to look into government disability support. The specifics will vary wildly depending where you are, but it’s probably your most useful resource. For me, along with the money, they had tailored support for finding work I could do.
They ended up finding me a part time, WFH call center job. There were incentives for the employer to take me because of my disability and assistance (including financial) for setting me up for it. It was still extremely hard but the disability support checked in on me regularly to help me through it.
Before that, there are plenty of ways to make money online. Too many to list. If you’ve got the basic skills, the equipment and you’re still able to function enough it’s worth trying.
There is also going to be a variety of various charity and government support programs for people with disabilities, low income earners, etc. with the specifics depending on where you are. The harsh reality is surviving will mean learning to swallow your pride and enduring shame. Don’t just look for “disability” support, take anything you might be applicable for. Make sure to look through every level of government you might come under as they aren’t unified and can be difficult to find.
Community groups can be an invaluable resource. If there are ones that might apply to you - whether it be around ethnicity, sexuality, religion, whatever - you can find a wealth of assistance. At the very least they’re going to have some free food.
IT work from home. You can get certs and take courses almost completely online and you can do it relatively quickly
Edit: A degree is also not mandatory as long as you have some certifications
Programming (React, JavaScript, Python and anything AI are hot and tend to pay well once you’re in the industry), 3D Modelling, 3D Animation, Game Development, Digital Design, IT / InfoSec work (may need a few certificates to be competitive), Call Taker (these can be brutal, but good companies exist).
If you’re able to walk around somewhat and can sit for very long periods of time, truck driving may be an option (again, depending on your disability specifically). Truck driving is in extremely high demand and pays pretty well, and may even hook you up with hotel rooms if you get the right benefits. You will need to be able to sit in one spot and drive for many hours sometimes though, like 12+ hours.
Writing is also an option, as is drop shipping / starting a print-on-demand company on Etsy (though these will take a while to get rolling).
Programming with a handheld keyboard/mouse combo. When my depression gets the better of me, I can still get a passable amount of work done lying down in bed.
As long as I can operate a computer, I’d get back into 3d modeling.
Doing it professionally takes a significant upfront investment in a good computer, pro-level software that has expensive yearly subscription, and time to learn how to work the program properly. So, idk how much help this idea is.
Also, AI is trying hard to break into the 3d modeling space.
Do you think that it will?
I don’t struggle with disability like that, but I was job searching recently and found local job counselling to be extremely useful at helping me figure out how to approach new industries and positions when I felt completely lost doing so myself.
They would (hopefully) have good, up to date knowledge on what the local job market is like, and I would figure they’d have some insight into what would be available for someone in your position as well. Would probably be worth seeing if your city or county offers anything of the sort.
In my country I’m either on accident compensation or sickness benefit, both that will offer training to better my lot.
There’s a company that uses robots, controlled remotely by severely disabled people, to be servers in a restaurant. I’d probably do that.
Aight. Since you are in California, get connected with the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR). In a general nutshell, their main goal is to help people with disabilities get gainful permanent employment.
You will need verification of disability and from your attempt at claims you don’t have any, but any disability will work to include anxiety that raises to the level of disability, depression, anything already verified by medical professionals.
They can also provide funding for college to help you get a job. They can pay for tuition, fees, parking passes, school materials.
Also I think all states have a department similar to DOR.
