So I am technically disabled

So the word is I am disabled. Mentally disabled that is. Now before everyone says they have known this all along, I am really not kidding. I went to Social Services today and took all my documentation of my surgery and I qualify for a person with disability. On the upside of that I got a pass to the local aquatic center today for free, and I get a disabled bus pass. I get some housing funding as well. The coolest part is I will probably qualify for some funding for school. If I want to go fishing I get a reduced rate fishing license too!!!

The frustrating part of all of this is the extra funding I get from the government is not pro rated. So while my insurance pays me a certain amount, and the provincial government kicks in a couple of bucks, I could have also been receiving extra funds from the federal government for the last year. I am so glad my Occupational Therapist is on the ball. So far they have cost me, $50.00 fee for not canceling my driving assessment while I was in Toronto (even though I called them several times to advise them of my extended stay), It cost me $99.00 to learn how to turn left while driving (see prev posts) Now they have cost me almost $800.00 in missed funds from the government for the last 10 months. Not to mention the money I have spent on the bus going the three zones to my driving assessment, to my Fiance's, to school etc. If I had never looked into a bus pass I would never have been led to the Social Service worker, who in turn linked me to the "people with disability's" info. So while I have a very minor form of disability (hey if recovered drug addict gets disability so should a memory impaired recovered drug addict) I don't know if I am nuts or not. I got so angry at the OT's lack of discussion with me, the lack of action, the lack of funds, the lack of information. If I had not complained, if I sat back and just acted on the information they provided, I would not be driving, I would not be in school, I would have less money, I would pay more for my prescriptions, and more for my physiotherapy. What the hell is the point of the community therapist with someone like me. I feel like I have been falling through cracks all this time. SO FUCKING FRUSTRATED. I will be filling complaint about the incompetence and continued "falling through the cracks" history I have had with the Community Therapist.

The other part of all this that is very frightening is that when I left the hospital I went to my parents house. You see my apartment had been sold while I was in the intensive care ward. The original plan was to move to the fourth floor where I would have been in a room with a more of apartment feel (not quit but not intensive care) I would have been able to come and go as I pleased, I would be able to eat at the cafeteria. It would have been a step forward to individual living instead of just throwing me out the door back to no job, no home, no memory. I also would have been sent to GF Strong a home for the memory injured. They would have had there own OT's, there own DR's, there own social service workers, and a history of dealing with people that have had traumatic brain injury. There would have been a waiting list for me to get into GF strong of at least 6 months. So I left the hospital and went to my parents house. We started my rehab ourselves, going to see a speech and Memory specialist at Burnaby hospital twice a week, I started physiotherapy, I started to see my Dr. on a regular basis. I had an OT that came to the house, she hooked me up with a psychologist, and there own memory dude. If I had not had a family that stepped up to take me home I would have been GF Strong, which my understanding is, it is the place to be for brain injury rehab. But because I left the hospital a month after I got in, and started getting help on my own instead of waiting the six months to start getting better, I missed out. I fell through the cracks.

This leads me to my point that at GF strong they would have been more equipped to handle all the needs I would have, they would have known what issues would come up. Instead I go home to an informant with no knowledge of what to do next, and an OT that is very new at her job, and doesn't inform us of about half the stuff that should have happened. So at the end of the day I am the one that pays for everyone else's incompetence. Don't get sick, its way to stressful to get better, and it costs to much money. I write this because I want all the other people out there dealing with traumatic Brain injures to know what services are available, I don't want anyone else to fall through cracks.

Ok there is my like thousand and two rant of the lack of responsibility of the OT company. Phew I am tired.