Working Out of Your Home

You may be wondering where I've been for the last couple of months. I've been recuperating from another Carpal Tunnel release surgery. This time it was on my right wrist. It took a lot longer for this one to heal than it did for my second left wrist surgery. But I'm back, and today, I'm going to talk to you guys about the legitimate  work at home opportunities that can be found if you know how and where to search.

Before I get into that, let me explain why  I, personally, have chosen this path. Many people think that working at home is lazy. They believe that people who work at home just don't have the drive to go out there and do something worthwhile. While this might be true in some cases. In my case, the need to find home based work was more of a requirement, due to several factors.

 The first of which is my anxiety disorder. Crowds, and being rushed, and many other things just send me into terrible fits of panic. Every work environment I have ever tried has inevitably led to this happening.

The second factor is that my immune system is very sensitive. Every little thing that comes around, I am sure to get, and this is even true when I'm in the house most of the time. The fact is, I am usually 70% sick, and 30% healthy. That's how I view it, anyway.

Needless to say, I've been frustrated by the fact that I seem to be unable to hold a normal person job. I have circumstances that even accommodations can't regulate. There is no "fix" for a weak immune system caused by my cerebral palsy. It just is. This is in mind, I decided a long time ago that I wasn't go to just settle for living off the government. Even if it meant 20.00 here, and 20.00 there, I did want to make my own money somehow, someway.

So. That's what's led me to writing about this. I know that everyone's conditions are different. Some of us can , and do go on to make very decent livings for themselves. And those people are to be appreciated and respected. This entry is for the rest of  us who want some sort of supplement to the income we already get.

To begin my search, I talked to a few of my friends who I knew already worked online. They told me what keywords they used, and how to spot a scam. If you have to give money, it is not worth it. You are trying to make money, not give it away.  So here are the couple of sites that I have found that work out the best for me.

Swagbucks is a site that allows you to earn points, called, you guessed, it Swagbucks for doing things like searching using their search engine, watching videos (called Swagbucks TV), completing surveys, and playing games. It is 100% free, and if you work with them steadily, you can easily make enough points to get the minimum of $5 giftcard to be redeemed on PayPal.
While a lot of people may be lured by that alone, I like to go for the Barnes and Noble giftcards because I am an e-book addict, and I love to use them for that purpose. There are other prizes too. This site is perfect for the individual who doesn't want to spend money to buy electronics and giftcards. Let your points do the shopping for you! Trust me, it's lots of fun!

InboxDollars has been used by various members of my family for the last two or three years. Only recently did I decide to give it a try myself. I have only been using this site for two weeks, and I am set to get my first pay check in a few days!

InboxDollars, like Swagbucks, asks their customers (or workers, since we're working!) to read paid emails, take surveys, complete cash offers (most of which are completely free and don't require a credit card), watch videos. Unlike Swagbucks, you don't get paid in points. This is real income. My aunt, who used the site for a while when she was out of work, was able to pay her rent off of this site.

 It's so easy, and it can be fun, when you start inviting people to join  you! Compete to see who has the most by the end of the week, to make things more fun, and motivate you! I have one other friend that I referred to the site, and the two of us are constantly telling each other how much we've made in a certain day on the site alone. We get a great big kick out of it. In my opinion if you want actual money, this is your better bet.

There are other sites out there, but they don't pay nearly as much, nor are they as fun as these two sites. If you have a site you'd like to suggest to me in kind, I'd be glad to feature it in my next blog. For the next few blogs, I will be recording, and talking about my experiences as an online survey taker and email reader.  I hope you will give one of these two sites a try. The worst that could happen is you hate it. You have nothing to lose.

The Less Obvious Problems

What do you think of when you hear the words disability or disabled?  Did you picture someone you know in a wheelchair? Did an elderly woman with a walker come to mind? If so, you're not wrong. Most individuals who  think of disability immediately think of things that are blatantly obvious to the eyes. However, those aren't the only disabilities, and I should know. I have at least two that have nothing to do with my physical condition of Cerebral Palsy.

Cerebral Palsy in and of itself is handful to deal with. When I was a child, I had Mom, and physical therapists who helped me remember to do things for myself, such as swallowing, and walking with my heel down first.  The second, I still have issues with. Gradually, these behaviors became learned, so they weren't as obvious.

When I got to be a little older, and started going to school, the mental effects of my CP began to show themselves. I was incredibly smart in many different subjects. Indeed, I was the first to read in my Kindergarten class.

We then came to realize that I had trouble comprehending things that are just said to me. This was especially true when it came to the higher maths in upper elementary school and my later school years. Thank goodness  for the teachers Mom and I worked with. I wouldn't have made it through High school with their know how and patience!

While I know that learning disabilities occur in individuals that have no other condition, when it is coupled with CP, like in my case, it can be seem a little bit more challenging. But as I mentioned above, I did manage to make it out on top with a lot of hard work and determination.

Most recently, I have been dealing with major anxiety disorder. You would think it's not considered a disability, but in truth, it is in the dictionary as being a debilitating condition. My anxiety comes from years of physical and emotional abuse. But I also think it comes from the way people I have met throughout my life have dealt with my condition. Anxiety attacks come on suddenly, and almost  without a warning. It's easier for me to just stay home, and not want to go out. However, I've gotten a bit better at it, with the help of the psychologist and psychiatrist I'm  seeing. This is one disability I can help myself cure, or control.

The point of this post is to get people to understand that disability is more than just what is on the outside. There may be  things going on the inside that you don't know.

Guest Blogger: Aubrie Cox On Invisible Disabilities

Being an internet social butterfly, I come across a lot of different people. Some of them come and go, but many become friends for life. One such individual is Ms. Aubrie Cox. She and I have been friends for a very very long time. She's struggled through what we call invisible disabilities, and is now on track to take the blogging and haiku world by storm. But I'll let her talk to you more about that.

I'm Not Invisible, But My Illness Is

When Heather first started this blog, she made a post about the people that inspire her to keep fighting.. I was flattered to be included among those people. She made a comment though that's been nagging me: "She has not once let her conditions let her down. I want to be more like her, and pretend my condition doesn't effect me." First, I had to consider if I really do act like this, and then, whether or not that's a good thing. Neither was easy to do. I don't like to talk about my chronic, invisible illnesses publicly, and this is certainly the first time I've ever blogged about it.

Approximately seven years ago (I was 16 thereabouts), after a year and half of a multiplicity of doctors and tests, a rheumatologist diagnosed me with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and fibromyalgia. While there is no cure for either, within the last few years they've developed drugs to help people manage their fibromyalgia (none I've tried, however, have worked for me). Most doctors have never heard of EDS, or only had a brief reading on it in medical school; some doctors still don't believe fibromyalgia is real.

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder, which in the most basic sense, is caused by a genetic defect in the collagen. And if you remember anything from basic biology, collagen holds your entire body (joints, skin, organs, etc.) together. As of now, there are 10 identifiable types of EDS; the most common type, which I've been diagnosed with, is Type III (Hypermobility). The two most common characteristics are hyperelasticity of the skin (i.e. extra stretchy) and hypermobility of the joints (i.e. joints hyperextend, which may lead to frequent dislocation, depending on the severity of the disorder). In addition, I suffer from chronic joint and muscle pain and fatigue, and on-again off-again gastroparesis and acid reflux. (Wikipedia has an accurately wide range of other potential symptoms here.) When I walk, sometimes my knees will hyperextend too far backward, and when I was younger, I frequently rolled and sprained my ankles. I go through phases where my fingers and wrists lose their strength and I have difficulty gripping things like doorknobs and pencils. I bruise easily; cuts/breaks in my skin take significantly longer to heal and often scar.

Fibromyalgia's cause is not known, but can most easily be described as hypersensitivity and overactive nerves. In my particular case, the doctor who diagnosed me believes that my fibromyalgia was triggered by my lack of sleep from the EDS. The more tired I become, the more I hurt, and the more that I hurt, the more difficult it is to sleep. For me, the most noticeable symptoms aside from fatigue are joint pain/stiffness, muscle pain (more of a burning than the EDS pain), hypersensitivity to touch and sound, and brain fog. On some days every sound is painfully intensified and sharp and my skin feels bruise. My bag bumping against my leg can feel like an aluminum baseball bat, and I often can't wear certain fabrics or clothes because they itch or burn. Brain fog makes it difficult to concentrate and often will impair my language comprehension, which can be problematic professionally and personally.

EDS and fibro, among many other illnesses, are often called invisible because you can't tell just by looking at a person that they're ill. The common reaction by others is, "Funny, you don't look sick." This can lead to comments about hypochondria, weakness, and laziness—all of which I was on the receiving end of frequently in high school before and after diagnosis. Teachers were fed up with my frequent absences, and I had a classmate and friend tell me it was all in my head. These days, I'm able to manage the symptoms much better (knowing the causes, able to have a more flexible schedule with my academics and work, and knowing my limits), but that doesn't mean I don't experience or suffer from them.

As the title states, I'm not invisible: During my undergrad, I was regularly involved on campus as the editor-in-chief of the student-run literary magazine and senior editor of the student-run publishing company; at graduate school I take classes and teach two sections (25 students per section) of first year composition; I'm active in the global English-language haikai community, and in my free time I put together collaborative poetry collections on my blog. On the side, I occasionally will do a freelance editing or typesetting job. Despite the fibro and EDS, I keep active; however, this also means I have little energy left for what most would call a normal social life.

I'm naturally an introvert and a little antisocial, but I think my chronic illness has heightened this. It's easier to let people (aside from some of my closest friends) think I'm that way than to try to explain that at the end of the day I'm too tired to do anything and that I often spend the weekends recovering from the week (or the summer to recover from the semester). These days, I can be part of a conversation and others will make plans with each other without so much as asking if I'm interested. They know I don't go out; they know I'll say no. In some ways, I'm okay with that, but I won't deny it stings and often makes me feel like an outsider.

The alternative is to explain why I don't go out, and people look at me blankly and nod; it's clear they don't understand, or think that I just need to do x, y, and z and that will somehow fix me. (For example, the biggest misunderstanding most people have about chronic fatigue is that those suffering from it simply just need to sleep more.) If I emphasize it too much, then people may assume I'm too weak to do anything and not take me seriously. In high school, this resulted in several opportunities I'd worked relentlessly for were taken away from me. After, I made it a point to keep my condition under wraps as much as possible as a way to protect myself, because I felt like it was myself against the world. I was terrified to tell people during my undergraduate studies there was something wrong with me. It wasn't until the last couple months before graduation I openly spoke about it. Even then I didn't say too much other than I was struggling to get everything done which no one really paid attention to because it was the end of the semester and everyone was busy.

Because I don't advertise it, it also leaves me conflicted when I have to ask for help. I've only asked for an extension/modification on an assignment twice in which case I had to explain my illness, and both times I was worried that it would seem like I was taking advantage of or cashing in on my diagnosis because I was just then talking about it. Fortunately, neither time resulted in such assumptions (as far as I could tell). Other times when I've brought it up, others think it must not be so bad because I make it to school/work on a daily basis and still manage to do things on the side. In the end, I typically feel something along the lines of: I get my work done; I can walk, drive, and carry on a normal conversation 95% of the time; people think I'm a little odd, but that's just my personality; I know I'm far better off than a lot of people; why should I bother anyone?

It's because my condition is invisible that it's easier sometimes to pretend it doesn't exist or affect me. However, I'm not sure it's entirely healthy. I refuse to let it get me down, but that will also make me push my limits more than I should, which can lead to physical and mental crashes. I sincerely believe my chronic illnesses give me as much strength as they do weakness. The world is a competitive place, and waits for no one (especially those less genetically equipped for the daily grind), so I have to have twice as much drive to not only keep up, but overcome and succeed. Anyone who wants to succeed, chronic illness/difability or not, has to make sacrifices. For me, one of the sacrifices been being open about my chronic illness; I'm not always sure it's been the right decision. On the one hand, I'm fortunate in that I can make the choice to decide how people want to see me, but on the other, I deny myself a chance to come to terms with it personally.

I've been blessed over the last couple years to come in contact with other artists and poets who have similar conditions, and their willingness to be open about it is helping me little by little speak about it without fear or anxiety. In some ways, I may have also just needed to prove to myself that I can succeed in life before confronting my own difabilities.

This all only scratches the surface in how EDS and fibro affect me physically and mentally. I've never really found the right words (I've suppressed it for so long, it's difficult to dredge it back up), but Toni Bernhard has pretty much hit it on the nail. For more about life with invisible illness, read The Challenges of Living with Invisible Pain or Illness.Although I've read multiple blogs and articles by those with similar conditions, Bernhard best puts it how I feel, and touches on both those with invisible illness and their caregivers.

__________________

About the Author: Academic by day and haiku poet by night, Aubrie Cox is a native to the Midwest, USA. She received her B.A. in literature and writing from Millikin University in 2011, and is currently pursuing an M.A. in creative writing at Ball State University. Her micropoetry has appeared in print and online journals including Modern Haiku, Eucalypt, and A Hundred Gourds. Her first haiku collection tea's aftertaste was published by Bronze Man Books in 2011. Aubrie regularly blogs and publishes collaborative e-collections at Yay Words!

Another Graduation!

Today was my last day of Occupational Therapy. I didn't feel quite as connected with that group as I did with the PT crew, but I will miss Holly for sure! So there are a few things I  have learned through my experience with Occupational Therapy.  One of the most important things I learned was that I do not take enough breaks for the amount of time I spend on this computer. That being said, I started using a timer on my phone to keep myself on a schedule.

Secondly, I've learned that it is perfectly okay to say "I need help with this" when it comes to doing chores during a flare up. Whether the flare up is in my legs, or in my CTS, I need to learn to  say I need help. Believe it or not, that is the hardest thing for me to do. I am always very independent, and when I have to ask for help, I feel like I'm troubling someone or whatever. I'm trying to change that, slowly.

After the initial review, Danielle (my primary therapist) let me cook fried potatoes. But, they have an electric range, and I didn't know how to use any of it! It threw me off for a bit, and almost caused me a grease burn. Thankfully, that didn't happen. The potatoes turned out really well, too! I probably needed a bigger pan, but I did what I could with what I was given.

The last thing I was given was some stronger theraputty, and a certificate! I'm looking forward to having more progress as things go forward, and I am hoping you guys are keeping up with me. Come share your stories!

Transportation Part 2

So I got  a bit on my high horse about businesses and persons with disabilities who are traveling by transit last time. Today, I need to talk about something else that's even more close to home. My own personal transportation struggles. I touched on public transportation issues. Now I want to talk about my own options.

As mentioned before I was a part of the Mobility program that my state provides. They've been more unreliable than the buses around here since I started. So I haven't been using them. I've been relying on my mother and really, I don't mind. I give her rent, take her to lunch, and a whole bunch of little things to show her how much I appreciate her taking the time to drive me around.

Transportation is the main issue when it comes to my social life too. Let me explain. My social life used to be going down to the Avenue, and being the catalyst for a writing group born out of NaNoWriMo, which I have participated in for years. Every Tuesday we'd meet up, and write and socialize. But I had made friends and contacts beyond my main group. I had become a regular at Barnes and Noble, and I got a lot of special treatment for it. Now, that's not what kept going back. I genuinely enjoyed it.

But when the writing group fell apart last year, things got bad. I would still go, but I was alone, and that defeating the purpose, and my budget, in the process. I also had to depend on friends to bring me home when  mom could not because of work or her commitment to Cal, my stepfather.  In my heart, I believe that is a lot of the reason I can't get any rides anywhere, or set things up with people. The world is a different place. People have their lives, and as much as most won't admit it, we have all become a bit more selfish with our time and needs.

This makes socializing outside the computer a bit harder than anyone realizes. Everyone assumes I enjoy the time on the computer, and really, to a point, I don't make a case to contrary. But I would love to live in a world where offering gas money for transportation is enough. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and my social life is right here, online, with my friends, readers, and CityVille.

Now, I'm not saying that things are bad online. I love the Internet, I love chatting online. I just wish transportation would stop interfering with me getting into more outside social events.

Travel Options

The physically disabled have limited transportation options. Depending on the severity of the situation, limited could be putting it lightly.
I am fortunate enough to be one of the few who can get herself around for the most part.  Of course, it has taken some time before I was able to do it as I am now.

Before I got to this point, I was forced to depend on government  programs that were as far from reliable as you could get. They had caused me work related write ups, and everything else.  The options in Maryland for the diffferently abled and elder seems to be sorely lacking, and honestly, there is not a whole lot one person can do. Many would say we should be grateful for what we have, and in some aspects, they would be right, but it needs to be greatly improved.

As a whole the Maryland Transit Administration could do with a facelift in many different areas. One of those being having on time buses. Their penchant for being late or not showing up at all is not only inconvenient to those who rely on it, it can cause health issues for those who are not quite disabled enough to qualify for the above mentioned transit program.

Some of us need certain things, and need them not all the time, but regularly. For me, that is the restroom, and let me tell you something, after Wednesday's fiasco with a certain restaurant I will keep anonymous, I am even more serious about timely bus arrivals, and a more informational bus system.

I have a very weak bladder, and i also have to drink a lot of water/drinks because of a mouth drying out due to my medications, so I have to go to the bathroom regularly. There are some restaurants that do not openly offer public restrooms, and this particular restaurant, I am a regular customer when I take the bus.

When the bus was 3 hours late, I had to go to the bathroom. Now, there was no sign on the door anywhere that says "No Public Restrooms". If there had been, I wouldn't have bothered, but I did, and this guy was SO rude. Why would I bring this up? Well, I would have been fine to go to the bathroom once I got to destination. But it was late, and I had to go.

People do have bad days, and I'm guessing this must have been one of his, but geez,  was it really necessary to say, "I don't know why it's my problem, but go ahead, like it's your house"? While I'm standing there with my walker very obviously in pain? Give me a break!

It's Friday now,  and this happened on Wednesday. I'm still angry about it. It must be because I've been in Cutomer Service so much of my life, that I know better than to treat customers with disrespect. And even if that WAS the regulation, there should be some sort of tolerance for those with a very obvious disability. It's not like this guy didn't know me. He did. And he knew the walker, too, cause I had used it only two weeks before.

So while I do think the state programs such as Mobility are nice, there needs to be some vast improvements. Otherwise adults with disabilities are going to end up relying on someone else for the rest of their lives, and I don't know about the rest of you? But this is most definitely not my intention!

A Big Step in a Positive Direction

(From Saturday, June 9, 2012) 


When you're dealing with Cerebral Palsy, you often have to deal with things that most do not. Things that may not be a big deal to some are huge deals for you. One of those things for me is t he ability to cross the street, which I lost a few years ago after nearly being hit by a car when I had the right away. 

For the first time in five years, I was able to cross the street that has been plaguing me, by myself, without my friends holding my hand. I had to use the walker, but I guess that's okay. I tend to think of the walker as a smaller version of a power chair. You see those all the time with people getting across the street. The walker's just a bit more primitive. 

So I've gotten used to the fact that this is h ow i cross the street. I look forward ot a time where I learn the bus schedule. ^^ That is my next step in independence.