intro & rant on seeking accomodations

[Guest guest]

Hi CMT folks,

I have learned quite a bit from this list & have posted once or twice but have

not done an intro yet - so here goes.

I am a 35 year old woman with CMT. I wear hinged AFOs that

help me quite a bit. I was diagnosed as a todler due to delayed and atypical

gait and had some reconstructive surgery of the heel bones (straightened &

pinned)at the age of 8. This helped considerably.

I did not need braces through my youth and mistakenly thought that the CMT went

away because I was able to enjoy many physical activities.

At 30 my body crashed. I could not stand for more than 5 or so

minutes and the fatigue and pain were overwhelming. I gained 20 or so pounds in

that year and learned that I needed leg braces. I lived alone in CA - lost my

job and feared homelessness.

The leg braces worked and I am much more active. I lost most of the weight and

am able to do much more as I learn to listen to my body - sit more - etc.

I was on SSDI and later worked my way off of it doing case management work at a

non-profit social service agency. I am currently in grad school & got married

in Sept. of 2006. Things are wonderful in many ways.

The Problem Seeking Accomodation Rant:

I am a grant recipient in the Master of Social Work program at CSU East Bay. I

am contracted to work 200 internship hours per trimester at Child Protective

Services. My grant is contingent on this. This internship is to train me for a

contractual two-year

employment at CPS upon graduation from the MSW program.

The school verbally changed this contract at the beginning of this my second

year. " K B " (Title IVE grant coordinator, field liaison, and academic advisor)

said that the hourly requirement of the

contract was void and that the field agency was now responsible for determining

how many hours we were required to complete.

I attempted to work the increased number of internship hours and became very ill

( a cold that lasted 6 weeks, severe muscle cramping, pain & fatigue).

I sought a time accommodation – an extension on the amount of time to complete

my newly increased hours. I did this through the student disabilities office

with appropriate medical documentation from my

neurologist.

KB/school liaison said that, “CPS does not have to make any accommodations” and

that they could “terminate me at any time for any reason.” She said that this

would mean that I would lose my title IVE grant, have to pay back 27K at 5%

interest, and that

it might prevent me from graduating on time. She suggested that CPS might be a

field of work that poses too many physical challenges for me and that I should

consider resigning from the grant program so that I am not required to work at

CPS.

I pursued the accommodations through the student disabilities office. I

requested that the 24 hr per week internship be reduced to 16 or 20 hours per

week. This would fulfill the original 200-hour requirement. Additionally, I

offered to make up hours during

school breaks and to extend my internship through June.

KB and RW (my supervisor at CPS) suggested a temporary accommodation of

approximately 3 hrs per week. They said that I would have to meet with " Sally

S " of CPS for the final decision on accommodation because she was in charge of

this. I was to schedule an

accommodations meeting with Sally S.

An accommodations meeting was scheduled. " " of the student disabilities

office suggested that I bring a witness to the meeting. KB said that I could

not bring a witness saying, “It’s not appropriate.” She reminded me of the

implications of losing this

internship (paying back approx. 27k and not graduating on time).

At the meeting KB informed Sally S “CPS does not have to make any

accommodations.” Furthermore, she said that CPS “can terminate at any

time, for any reason, including no reason at all.” She told Sally S that, “all

she had to do was pick up the phone and

call her (KB) and it would be over.” Sally S said that although some

accommodations are in place for this trimester, “there will be no accommodations

for the final 2 trimesters.” She said that she didn’t need to see my doctor’s

note. My supervisor R W said that my

work was fine, “done on time…excellent documentation skills,etc.” but that she

could not give me a satisfactory review with the lowered internship hours

accommodation.

I was terminated from my internship shortly after this meeting. RW said, “It

wasn’t working out.” Although I completed my 200 hrs for the trimester I will

not get credit for them and I will not pass the field class.

KB said that she couldn’t place me at a county agency internship this year. She

said I have two options. One, I can resign from the grant, pay back

approximately 27,000.00 with 5% interest and finish

with a non-county internship placement. Two, I can remain in the grant program,

graduate a year late, and do an entire year of internship and field class only

next year. If I choose the second option “there will be no accommodations.” I

will intern 3 days per week and the agency will decide when my internship

starts.

I told KB that I wanted to graduate on time and that I did not want to resign my

grant. I must now go before a performance review committee at my college. They

will determine grant and graduation status.

I am a straight-A student.

On the positive side, this experience has made me consider the importance of

advocacy work and I hope that this experience will help me to somehow help

others in the future.

Thanks for reading this.

Good Health to All,

Chris