Disability Pride Month 2021

Disability Pride is a thing with Disability Rights Activists that has garnered us July as a theme month.

Au contraire I’m not proud to have a disability.

I take pride in the skills, abilities, and strengths that I used to help myself recover and continue to use to empower others to recover.

The fact is that the breakdown and major relapse I experienced were two terrifying events. What happened to me wasn’t normal. I’m not proud to have been symptomatic. I cannot champion that being ill was a good thing.

What happened after I recovered was the great thing: I decided to do pro bono public speaking as an Advocate. My goal here was to motivate other peers to go after their goals with gusto.

I wanted to be the cheerleader for others who didn’t have family support or mental health staff in their corner telling them that recovery was possible.

Since 2002 when I first started out I’ve been attacked for claiming that recovery is possible.

One critic told me they doubted other peers could do what I’ve done.

That wasn’t my point in publishing my memoir Left of the Dial–to dangle an unobtainable carrot in front of people.

The exclamation point was that you could have your version of a full and robust life living with an illness.

Finding the career that gave me joy and listening to music and dressing in outfits and making art was what enabled me to recover.

Recovery comes to each of us in different guises. Each person’s recovery is as individual as our thumbprint.

Sing in a choir. Bake a cake. Ride a skateboard. It’s all great.

In 1988 I wouldn’t accept “the only option” presented to me: warming a chair in a traditional day program, collecting a government disability check for the rest of my life, and living in crack-infested low-income public housing.

It’s fine if a person must collect a government disability check and can’t hold a traditional job.

Yet even with these limitations I submit that they can have their version of a full and robust life.

It’s called No Judgments okay.

Elsewhere in other blogs I’ve praised the hard work and cheerfulness of Rite Aid cashiers. Some of them have been working at their jobs for three four or five years.

No one gives them grief for not having “competitive employment.”

Yet as soon as a person with a mental health issue can’t hold a job they’re looked down on.. The Right Wing crucifies people for collecting “entitlements.” Even if you have a genuine disability in some states the government doesn’t want you to collect Medicaid unless you have a job.

Intelligent thinking right? How is someone who’s actively symptomatic always going to be able to hold a job?

The point is my memoir Left of the Dial went a step further than Elyn Saks’s memoir The Center Cannot Hold.

What both our books had in common was the premise that you can do what you love even when you struggle.

You can have your version of a full and robust life even when your life is hard because of your illness.

And it’s precisely because you’re doing what you love–on or off a job–that the pain is alleviated.

Point taken? I hope so.

Counterpoint to Disclosure

July is Disability Pride Month. In coming blog entries I’ll talk about this theme in more detail.

Today I will offer a counterpoint to disclosure that examines the issue from the other side.

The reality is we have a way to go to get to the day when having a mental illness is something others accept as an ordinary part of the package we present to them.

My literary agent told me that maybe I should archive one of my blogs while I continue to rev up getting Working Assets published.

Counter-intuitively five days later I decided to keep writing those blog entries. My Left of the Dial blog is crafted with my love for music and fashion and other things I’m passionate about.

Would I recommend keeping a blog and being open and honest in it? Employers will read your blog and use what you write to decide whether to make you a job offer.

That’s reality even though it’s 2021.

While I’m an optimist I’m also a realist. You must adhere to a professional code of conduct. Ideally you can conform to the rules at the same time you can express your identity.

Should that not be an option the solution is to find a job or career that is off the beaten track. Where you can dress in a creative uniform and use your brilliant mind to execute phenomenal work for the company—or for your clients if you’re self-employed.

In coming blog entries I will talk more about finding this work and life equilibrium. The environment where you can be yourself and produce results for your employer is the sweet spot.

Yet sometimes a bulldozer is needed to succeed on the job. More about disrupting the status quo in future blog entries too.

Expressing All of Us on Our Jobs

The John Legend song “All of Me” talks about romance. About bringing all of each other to the table when you’re in love.

Yet the lyrics apart from the love angle testify to not living in hiding in any kind of closet.

Giving all of ourselves—to each other; to our recovery; to a work project—is the way to go.

This is where acting true to yourself comes into play. For a long time I’ve had empathy for gay people who have been told to submit to conversion therapy.

The more I turned around in my head the beauty of appropriate self-disclosure I saw the benefit in living life on full-tilt as the one and only you.

The full truth: I’m a quirky artist who thinks differently and sees things differently. My unusual approach has allowed me to help people craft resumes that get them job interviews that have led to job offers.

As a professional librarian with a career services niche I’ve been more intrigued lately about how and whether a person should bring all of yourself into the equation when interacting with others on a job.

Alas there is a hierarchy of disabilities. Bipolar and schizophrenia spook people. Often they Stand Back 500 Feet after you disclose to them.

It comes down this is: do you equate your illness as being part of your identity. Do you think others should accept your diagnosis as a normal part of your life or of who you are. Do you want to be outspoken in every arena of your life about having a disability.

July is Disability Pride Month. In early July I will talk in greater detail about this.

In ways what I think runs counter to what a lot of Disability Rights Advocates believe.

The last blog entry for this month will unpack the reality of how and when to disclose.

It could sound like I’m asking readers to do as I say and not as I do.

Taking up blogging on any topic carries a risk when you’re searching for a job.

The intent in celebrating that you have a disability is to empower yourself in a world where individuals with disabilities are seen as different or to be pitied.

No way to pity. Way to deciding for yourself whether you want to disclose on a job.

Illness and Identity and Career

This is going to be a carnival of three related blog entries on the topic of illness and identity and career.

In conversation with a peer friend I asked him to clarify something I had been thinking about on the topic of illness and identity and career.

The friend understood: There are different pieces of ourselves. We’re not just one thing. We can talk and write about life outside of mental health.

For months now I’ve been interested in the Venn diagram intersection between illness and identity and career.

About how people choose to identify themselves to others. Some of us right off will tell people: “I’m disabled.” Some of us will say: “I have a disability.”

In my life I prefer to be identified by my name or by my personality traits or by what I’m passionate about.

This extends to labels outside of illness that people commonly use to identify themselves. Why should we have to label ourselves at all?

Years ago a workshop leader told everyone in her course: “If you name it, you can claim it.” I understand that this is the underlying dynamic in using a “hook” to describe yourself.

In work emails I would rather write after my name: Christina Bruni (Author/Advocate).

What I would ideally like to use is: Christina Bruni (Chris/Christina) to identify myself apart from a preferred personal pronoun.

It’s a matter of a person’s individual preference whether they want to talk about their illness in ordinary conversation. Or whether they choose not to disclose as a matter of course.

The choice is yours whether you disclose, how you disclose, who you tell, and when.

In the next blog entry I’ll talk about advertising yourself as a whole person instead of dwelling on symptoms and illness.

Self-Disclosure on a Job

In reading the book Dress Your Best Life author Dawnn Karen gives the best strategy for self-disclosure on the job. She is a therapist with a focus on fashion psychology. Karen also teaches at FIT.

Though she is a therapist I think her professional ethic as regards disclosure should hold true in every workplace.

Disclosing personal information depends on “the content of the disclosure…the rationale for the disclosure…the personality traits of the client…and the specific circumstances surrounding the disclosure” according to Zoe D. Peterson writing in Psychotherapy: Theory Research Practice Training.

Credentialing lived experience is predicated on the peer specialist acting with the utmost professionalism.

A paid peer specialist doesn’t have a license to practice medicine so cannot advise a person to stop medication or tell them how to wean themselves off medication.

A paid peer specialist can “hold up a mirror” to their client by disclosing. Yet the act of disclosing should not take the focus away from the client’s feelings and needs.

What you disclose should be directly related to the issue the client is expressing.

Disclosing your mental health issue on a job is a matter of personal preference when you’re not a paid peer specialist.

I recommend reading Dress Your Best Life because it is a one-of-its-kind deep dive into how you dress affects your mood presentation and success.

Seeing The Ability in Disability

Our disability might be invisible to others we interact with. Only this disability is real to those of us living with it.

My memoir Left of the Dial detailed in graphic fashion what happened to me. It was an unusual story that I wanted to tell to give others hope for having a life of your own design.

Ever since I started in 2002 my pro bono Advocate work I’ve been met with resistance. Outsiders and even mental health professionals claimed that recovery was not possible at all.

Setting the bar too high as to what constitutes recovery is something I’ve always been against.

Having competitive employment should not be the barometer used to judge a person living in recovery.

As a professional librarian with a Masters’ degree I’ve seen firsthand that anyone with a pulse can get a job.

As an ambitious individual I can tell you this: wherever you’re employed there’s always going to be a slacker who doesn’t do any work or does the bare minimum.

A coworker might be rude and hostile too and they don’t have a mental illness.

This points to the fact that no one should feel guilty and ashamed for having a disability whether invisible or out in plain sight.

I write blog entries and books and do public speaking to educate empower and entertain my target market of individuals living in recovery.

As a librarian I have a niche in helping customers craft resumes and conduct job searches.

My goal was to use my experience to help people in recovery find and succeed at having a job you love.

Today numerous different jobs exist that are off the beaten path of careers.

The point is that having a disability doesn’t have to limit a person from getting out there and contributing your talents to the world.

Whether paid or volunteer work the possibilities are beautiful.

If you want to get a job you deserve to try to do this. No one should tell you otherwise.

Individuals living with a disability have gifts, strengths, and abilities that make us assets to employers.

Think positively. It’s 2021–there’s more hope than ever.

On the Front Porch Podcast

My first podcast:

On the Front Porch With Christina (wordpress.com)

You can click on the Episodes link on the upper right corner of the podcast homepage to listen to each episode.

I’m going to keep each podcast to 3 to 5 minutes starting out.

Join me as I talk about hot topics in recovery.

It’s 3 minutes long.

Enjoy.

7 Common Resume Mistakes

  1. Using a Job Objective header.
  2. Formatting the text in a way that is not easy to read quickly from top of page to bottom.
  3. Making spelling and grammar mistakes.
  4. Listing job functions not quantifiable results you’ve achieved on the job for your employer.
  5. Using a Resume Wizard template.
  6. Stealing information from a “best sample resume” found on Google.
  7. Using vague language or puffery in an attempt to sell yourself.

The reasons why you shouldn’t do these things:

I’ve seen that without fail people who use a Job Objective header state under this header: To use my skills to advance in my career. No. No. No. Your resume should detail what specific skills, traits, and experience you have that will benefit the company not you. If you’ve nailed down the perfect job for you and are applying for jobs that are in sync with your personality of course you’ll be able to advance in your career.

Over and over I’ve also seen that when a person uses a professional format for the text it makes an immediate improvement. This could be the sole reason you weren’t getting called for interviews in the past: the content is okay and the graphics are off-putting.

For any job and especially one that requires attention to detail making spelling and grammar mistakes will land your resume in the trash pile in seconds.

To stand out from other candidates who have performed the same functions on a job you must list quantifiable results you achieved in your positions.

It goes without saying that a Resume Wizard template is not a good idea for crafting your compelling sales pitch. In 2021 any job applicant should and must be able to create outstanding graphics for their resume on their own. Without relying on a Wizard that has aqua text or uses a photo. No photos on a resume either.

I have rarely discovered a “best sample resume” via a Google search that is any good. You can search for a great resume sample for the job you’re applying for. Only use your judgment to figure out how to customize what you find in your own words. Some sample resumes are OK. Most leave a lot to be desired.

In the 1990s I saw a resume that stated a person “walked on water.” Unless you’re Jesus you cannot claim to have walked on water. This resume also claimed that the person “made order out of chaos.”

Making a You Turn

The book in the photo above is the number-one career book I’ve checked out of the library so far. I recommend you buy the book instead. Read it from the start to end straight through.

You Turn: Get Unstuck, Discover Your Direction, and Design Your Dream Career is great for all job-seekers. Not just those of us who are changing careers after being stuck in a dismal career we hate.

Author Ashley Stahl’s uncommon advice in reality is common sense wisdom for everyone. Even individuals happily ensconced in a job or career would benefit from her stories and approaches on financing, networking, and hitting rock bottom and coming up again.

The book sells for $17 on Amazon.com. You can special order it at your local independent bookseller too. Or go to Barnes & Noble.