Finding Work & Making It Legal

Obviously, it takes income to move from poverty. Wages from work is only one form of income. Income from investments is another form, but it takes money to get money from these sources of income. Therefore, finding work was going to have to be my starting point.

The typical first step to finding work is to look at your job history. I feel that I can no longer work in the field of psychology due to my disability. Traditional employment poses the same problems since my disability causes anxiety and agoraphobic tendencies. Finding work with a disability is not easy.

Since I have a problem with being in public, I need to be focused on finding work online. In the past, I have done some freelance writing work. So, I turned my attention to finding freelance work.

There is a person for whom I have done freelance writing work. The client offered me an ongoing part-time job doing freelance writing work from home. There is also the possibility of additional, short-term freelance writing assignments. This would be my starting point.

The next necessary step is making it legal. I had to contact my caseworkers and SSI to notify them of my employment. This was somewhat complicated considering it was a job as an independent contractor, as freelance work typically is, instead of traditional employment. After two phone calls and somewhat lengthy explanations, my employment was recorded by SSI.

I have to admit, SSI seems to offer help finding work with a disability. From what I understand, they work with the unemployment office to find work for people with disabilities. This process would not work for me, however, since I have such difficulty being in public. Unless I had someone who I trust like my case manager or a relative stay with me while at the unemployment office looking for work, I wouldn't be able to do so. Then what? Would my case manager or relative stay with me on the job too? So, you can see why I had to look for work online or at least work that can be done from home.

So, now I have a part-time job and it is cleared with SSI. I'm starting on my path from poverty. The freelance work does not pay enough to raise my income out of the poverty level, so this is far from the complete solution. It's a start.