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starkid
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30 Apr 2017, 6:38 pm

For those who don't know, vocational rehabilitation is a government organization that helps disabled people get work.

I work as a freelance editor and have asked voc rehab to pay for continuing education (a certificate) because I am self-taught and have no real professional credentials.

I'm worried that I'll be wasting this money. There are few scenarios in which I can work as an employee (can't do offices, commuting, etc.), and I'm not doing well as a freelancer: I get almost no work because I have little experience, few work samples, and no network whatsoever. I'm also terrible at promoting myself (which is essential in freelancing) and hate self-promotion. I'd actually rather not be an editor, but it's my most developed skill.

I don't think these things will change much, so I won't be getting much work and I still won't be able to survive on my earnings, even with the professional certificate.

Should I take this course (allowing voc rehab to pay and potentially wasting money)?



DinoMongoosePenguin
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30 Apr 2017, 9:04 pm

starkid wrote:
For those who don't know, vocational rehabilitation is a government organization that helps disabled people get work.

I work as a freelance editor and have asked voc rehab to pay for continuing education (a certificate) because I am self-taught and have no real professional credentials.

I'm worried that I'll be wasting this money. There are few scenarios in which I can work as an employee (can't do offices, commuting, etc.), and I'm not doing well as a freelancer: I get almost no work because I have little experience, few work samples, and no network whatsoever. I'm also terrible at promoting myself (which is essential in freelancing) and hate self-promotion. I'd actually rather not be an editor, but it's my most developed skill.

I don't think these things will change much, so I won't be getting much work and I still won't be able to survive on my earnings, even with the professional certificate.

Should I take this course (allowing voc rehab to pay and potentially wasting money)?



Do you think the certificate will help? If you don't, then, yes, you'd be wasting your money.



starkid
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30 Apr 2017, 10:11 pm

I do think it will help, but not a huge amount. I know that I still won't be able to promote myself and I will remain far below the poverty line.



underwater
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04 May 2017, 11:28 am

Hell, yeah!

You don't have powers of prescience. You don't know what this course will give you. The important thing is to keep trying. Learning anything at all is good for you.

I once took a course that was supposed to help me get a job. It didn't help me get a job, but it improved my confidence a lot so that I got a job at a later point. Also, I made a lot of friends, believe it or not. There were at least four aspies there.

As for the cost, compare it to one of Donald Trump's golfing weekends.

You're autistic! You have enough people sabotaging you, you don't have to do it yourself!


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HisShadowX
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04 May 2017, 5:17 pm

starkid wrote:
For those who don't know, vocational rehabilitation is a government organization that helps disabled people get work.

I work as a freelance editor and have asked voc rehab to pay for continuing education (a certificate) because I am self-taught and have no real professional credentials.

I'm worried that I'll be wasting this money. There are few scenarios in which I can work as an employee (can't do offices, commuting, etc.), and I'm not doing well as a freelancer: I get almost no work because I have little experience, few work samples, and no network whatsoever. I'm also terrible at promoting myself (which is essential in freelancing) and hate self-promotion. I'd actually rather not be an editor, but it's my most developed skill.

I don't think these things will change much, so I won't be getting much work and I still won't be able to survive on my earnings, even with the professional certificate.

Should I take this course (allowing voc rehab to pay and potentially wasting money)?



You can apply for the WIA grant elsewhere for that.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ae/fg/

Use vocational rehab to get you preference for State and Federal hiring