From Research Readiness to Peer Advocacy
Winter 2018
From Research Readiness to Peer Advocacy
Jody Verble is, by her own description, an adult with type I ADHD, for whom “life moves fast and my mind moves faster” (the “I” is for Inattentive). A job counselor who helps people with disabilities gain employment, she experienced a spinal cord injury herself in 2015, which was how she came to take part in our Research Readiness project.
The training was designed to prepare people with such injuries to have a voice in medical research. That experience, and an “On The Table” gathering that several of the participants attended, inspired her to launch a website, disabilitypeeradvocates.com, dedicated to empowering job seekers with disabilities to have the knowledge they need to succeed. “For me, information is power,” says Verble. And her medical life explains why it is so important to her.
In part due to inattention, she unknowingly lived with the spinal injury for months before seeking medical help. Once diagnosed with cervical myelopathy, a compression of the spinal cord that required surgery, she had the same experience as after her ADHD diagnosis four years earlier: “At no time did any of the many specialists talk to me about this diagnosis, how it would manifest short or long term, how to manage symptoms, or any other necessary information on what to expect. I didn’t so much as receive a pamphlet.”
And that’s why she feels so strongly about disability and employment, a subject on which she says there is virtually no information out there: “If you were to Google ‘employment disability’ all that comes up is how to apply for SSI or SSDI.”
With her background in the day-to-day practicalities of disability employment, she aims to demystify the system and shed light on “what to expect” and “to abate fears, reduce frustrations, and promote success.”
This is just the kind of story we love to share at the holidays –and a bright example of how empowering people is a ripple that spreads.
Image from disabilitypeeradvocates.com
We remain grateful to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute for funding the Research Readiness project, which is continuing to bear fruit, and to the Chicago Community Trust, for the inspiration that On The Table continues to provide. |