Hey! So, I'm 26 years old and will be moving to a new city. I desperately am going to need a job. Nothing too demanding because I have some severe physical limitations, but something I could do with relative ease in an office setting.
I graduated in 2013 from UCLA and have a degree in Human Cultural Geography.
I have not worked since graduation because I had been too ill to do so, is it better to tell my potential employer that the reason I haven't worked is because of my health or should I say something else? Unless something random and drastic happens, there should be no issues with me missing work for illness or anything of that sort. I am finally healthy enough to work so I can't imagine someone rejecting me based on my past medical history, although I do not doubt they could.
My illness is hard to hide. I eat through a feeding tube. Which ultimately causes it's own set of issues. I've been considering doing a document series on my feeding tube and what it is like to live like this through youtube and possibly work towards being a motivational speaker seeing as I've been through some huge adversities. I feel my experience could help others find meaning in his or her own life. I don't know....
Anyway, these are just a bunch of rough draft thoughts that I've been putting together. Any help or insight would be most appreciated. Thanks!
Links you may find worth a read (though I know how frustrating it can be for people to point to links like this and say, see, there are jobs for you, like it's easy):
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/11/04/the-best-jobs-for-people-with-disabilities/
http://www.rileyguide.com/abled.html
http://nod.org/disability_resources/employment_resources
Also, for instance, in my city there is an organization, with a building you can visit, that has a wide variety of career services and help for people with disabilities, including severe ones. The counselor I saw for help finding a job was in a wheelchair and breathing through a tube attached to a mobile oxygen tank, which was awesome to see. It might take a bit of work to find one in your area, but it's worth looking for.
I just googled "center disabled advocacy" looking for centers like the one I described, and here's one: http://www.advocacyla.org/index.php/get-help.html
If the center you find on google isn't in your area, but it looks to be a good one, they'll probably be okay with you contacting them, asking if they know of any resources in your city.
Oh, also, search meetup.com or similar for meetups in your area for people with disabilities in general, or disabilities somewhat similar to your own. Even if they're just social, adult support groups, it's a good resource to talk about difficulties finding work, networking, and so forth.