Vocational Rehabilitation

     VR, to me, short for SC Vocational Rehabilitation. They help disabilities people become employ. A person needs a counselor in their county. I think determination is the key to a person who is willing to work. They may go to their evaluation center and then may go to the training center.
     I had probably 5 counselors during my 11 years with them. When my last counselor told me he was leaving, I told him to close my case because I was done. He provided tremendous support, and I felt exhausted at the thought of finding a new counselor and starting all over again. He really saw my frustrations. All of my counselors were determined to get me a job, but I had enough. The last counselors pushed me to work for myself, and I did well for a few years.
I changed to be just disabled person to disable person living a value life because of VR and the people I met there. Also, it was the first time that I was my own person and tried to live a new Christian life.
I started VR after I turned 18. Dad knew my first counselor, so he gave us some insight on how they did base things. I didn’t work in the back, where people worked, but he sent me to West Columbia to the evaluation center. Boy, it was an eye opened for a girl who had never been away from her parents except for a night in a blue moon. My parents took me on Sunday and picked me up on Friday. They called me every night, and on Tuesday nights, they visited me. The first morning was rough because I never had blood work done, but the head nurse talked with me, and they took blood. That was so embarrassing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everybody was scared to give me a TB shot. I was like, “OK, my craziest is gone.”
     A new group came in every week, and they stayed at least four weeks, and maybe more depend on their testing. Each room accommodates two guests, and two rooms share an adjoining bathroom. My room was joined by the doctor’s room, so my bathroom didn’t have people in there. I think I had an entire room for two weeks, and Faye came in. We got along well and became friends but eventually lost contact.
     Each day, we evaluated which skills we excelled at through regular testing. The group was together for only two hours, and the rest of the time we went different ways. You know your schedule that day, or the week, and it would change fast. If I didn’t look, I would go one thing, and I had to get back on track and be late. It made me ill, especially when I had to dress for swimming. We had gym, swimming, pt and group time up the hill. Yes, we had to go in the weather unless it was stormy. We ate three meals or peanut butter and jelly. I tried to eat everything, but China wasn’t for me. At night we got a snack. After 5:00, we stopped working. We could go to the gym or swim, go for a walk or leave, but we had to sign out. At that time, an employer lets clients go to his church on Wednesday nights. I enjoyed it. We had dinner, and a message. A man came around offered cinnamon rolls, and they were great. I heard years later that a client messed up, and they stopped going to church. I really missed it when I went back to VR for the third time.
     I did my tests on a computer in another room. That was the longest hour each day for me. The counselor there saw my determination and asked me to stay for another two weeks. I think I met Jeff at the training center to see if I could take a class because I could do math great. I went home, and they worked on a pilot class for bookkeeping for me.
     The VR training center was like job experience. Buying clothes beforehand didn’t work. I had a meeting with Jeff about things, and when he said dress professionally. I thought, “Oh my!” I’m thinking that was the time when Dad just told me no more dressing because he couldn’t handle me in a dress, so I wore pantsuits to church. Then I cleaned all of my dressing out, so I didn’t have a dress. I asked Jeff were pantsuits ok, and he said yes. Needless to say, I had to go back shopping that weekend so I could have dressy clothes for a week because Mom still wanted to wash my clothes for me. Anyway, the training center just had four classes, and they last 6-9 months. My class was in the library, which wasn’t bad. My teacher, Angela, came for a few hours, and I worked by myself the rest of the time. School was from 9 until 5, and we took 15 minutes breaks and an hour for lunch. We had a group meeting every Mondays. We talked and pointed out what we needed in the dorm, or if they saw something, they would want us to do better. We had a room check every week. We had a section about the workforce every Monday. Of course, we cut up in there especially the first group.
     Back to my class. I was taught manual accounting, QuickBooks program, Preachtree program, write business letters, business law and make a fake business plan. While I was doing that, Angela helped me with my appearance, cooked in a microwave and how to work on the computer better, like using a keyguard on my keyboard and a joystick mouse.
    When I was ready to get a job, we worked on my resume and practiced interviews. I sent many resumes out and did a couple of interviews, but nobody hired me when I couldn’t answer the phone. Then everybody noticed that my writing skills were not at the right level. When Angela worked on my writing skills, I moved back home still seeking a job. No, I didn’t waste my time there! They helped more than getting a job. It is not VR fault that nobody would give me a foot into the door. I learned so much from VR. If it wasn’t from VR, I wouldn’t be able manage my life by myself. At least, I can handle my personal things better with my training in accounting.
     The training center’s dorm was where people stayed if they didn’t live close by or couldn’t drive. We had 18 rooms and three in a section. The middle room had 2 beds in there. It was full at one time, and I can remember it was just 5. Our rooms had to be clean and everything in the dorm. Yes, I cleaned my room until Dad and Mom wanted to do it. I think they wanted to stay with me as long as they could. I had an end room in front of the nurse station. We had one nurse mostly at night and half the time in the morning. There was a kitchen without a stove, and a dining room with TV and a couch. We ate down the hill at the evaluation cent, in the dorm or go out. We were assigned shelves for our food, and we had to label our food. VR stocked bread and basic things to eat. We had phones in our rooms. We could bring a TV to watch in our room.
     God put the right group for me. Actually, with two groups because I was there almost two years. When we first walked in the dorm, car racing was on, and Mary was right there, and she was fun to get to know. I fell in love with everybody. It didn’t take long for people to start joking with me because two people I met at the evaluation center told everybody else about me. We seemed like we were family. At first. I hung out with the wrong girl. We were joking about a guy who was looking at us. When Rob saw me without that lady and told me about her, I was like, “YIKE!” For then on, I knew Rob had my back. We had a brother and sister relationship. We joked, hit, fought, and talked. When he put ice down my back, I put him in the corner. He might have regretted that he taught me to stand up for myself. LOL! But everybody seemed like one family. We didn’t get each other way. We hung out at night and normally outside because of half smoke. I don’t know who thought of it, but we had a train going down and up the hill when we ate. Electric wheelchairs pull manual chairs. We raced too!
      Everybody helped me. I only had to get my drink or food by myself a few times. If I went to wash, somebody would go with me regardless of what I say. I wouldn’t go down to wash today if you pay me where we had to wash at. Yes, it was scary then, but I wanted to prove things then. If I had trouble with my accounting, a person would help me. We had moments when we stayed in our room or just went out. I went out once with a group, and my parents had a talk with me. Then VR was willing to take clients to the fair, but nobody wanted to go except two of us. I told everybody I just couldn’t go with Rob, but I was talked into it and had a ball. Rob wasn’t afraid to go around people, so he led instead of me pulling him. Yes, I was worried about my parents’ reaction, but that weekend they didn’t seem upset. I figured they knew I could do my thing. I saw them in a new light.
      The next group came, and we had fun. I was the only girl for Valentine, and they surprised me with flower and things. When I was going to leave, they gave me a party.
      Do I keep in touch with anybody? A few had died that I kept in touch. One family let me know, one I found out six months later on Facebook. That tore me up because his family knew we were close, but I knew how they were. Frank and I would write and call. He would visit my house if possible, and he attended Dad's surgeries in Columbia. I talked with Rob a lot, and I called the day of his death. It broke my heart when his wife told me. I reconnected with a few VR friends on Facebook.
     I went back to VR evaluation center in 2004, but I only remembered one thing. I don’t remember why I went back, and I threw all my paperwork away. But I got depressed when they told me that I needed to stay an extra two weeks because I needed to improve my writing. I was glad nobody was outside because I didn’t want anybody to see me like that. I was so frustrated with myself and felt like people were wasting their time on me. After a few minutes, I thought I could go up the hill and talk with Cathie. She still took time with me when she saw me. She assured me they weren't wasting time and would work with me as long as needed.
     For the next two weeks, I spent half the day at the evaluation center, and I went to the training center for half day to work on my accounting skills. Then, last week there, I worked in the mail room for two hours a day. It was cool to put the envelope in the machine to stamp them. Of course, the envelopes would get hung in the machine, but it was cool to see how a mailroom worked.
      My counselor wanted me to take a class to improve my writing skill, so I took WorkKey at ATEC. My dad took me to class with my keyboard and joystick mouse for two weeks for half days. I was testing on the first day to see what my skills levels were at. They were low, even in math. I had to work on the computer by myself most of the time, but when Mrs. Wood came to teach me, I enjoyed her. She made reading and writing fun. During my last week, my counselor tested me. Thanks to him, he gave me double time for two tests. I barely passed the reading part.
      Months later, VR canceled math class that I was supposed to take to improve my skill. He said I could go by to ATEC, but I had to pay for it. I don’t see going and paying when I could do math. I always have been good at math.
      I went back to the training center in 2012 because my counselor thought I could do better than do clip art for my business. He told me I should design my own art. It was for a few months, and it was a self-taught course, but I could ask Cathy for help, which I did a lot. I learned Corel PaintShop, PowerPoint, Windows Moviemaking and business writing. I took a week off because we had plans to go to the mountains and see Triumphant for their 10 anniversaries. However, I appreciated gaining new insights into design and photography that I never thought I could achieve. I cleaned the stretch, changed the color, changed the background and so much more. My final project I had to design a picture, so I decided to do a picture of my mom's family. It looked like a house with grandparents for the door and their children with their spouse for the windows. Of course, I finished it at home after they bought me the program for my computer. I still use the program for cards, wall pictures and church’s flyers. I even used it for my family. If I don’t like it, I’ll start over again.
       It was boring at first in the dorm because I was thinking of my VR friends. I saw everything we did together. I finally talked to somebody. Two weeks later, office class started, and one of them stayed in the dorm. Pat was sewing a quilt and I watched her and talked. We liked the same things, and we both joined by the hips, as the saying goes. Her class adopted me. We ate together and walked together. Barbara had a cerebral palsy grandson, so we had a good conversation about that. We loved to joke around about anything. I don’t know why but we acted like sisters. One girl was quiet, but she enjoyed laughing at us. Then Pat got an idea started a weekly Bible study at night. I said I can’t write a lesson a week, but I had old lessons in my talker that I spoke at the nursing home, and she liked that idea. We had a Bible study every week down the hill so everyone could go. I think Pat continued it after I left. Once, I don’t remember if music was playing, but we started dancing around. If you see Pat and me together, you know it was going to be fun. For Halloween, she wanted to dress up. I hadn’t dressed up since I was a kid, but I went along. We both watched LaVern and Shirley, so we dressed like them. I bought a shirt that I had, and she did the same and she put a S on mine and L on her. We wore scarves. Then we went everywhere, and they gave us candy. We had so much fun.