TBI Petit Mal Seizures Created Problems with Census Bureau Job

TBI Petit Mal Seizures: Michael Part Twenty Six

Procedural non-compliance wasn’t as big a problem with his next job, working for the U.S. Census bureau. But unfortunately,working on the computers set off his TBI petit mal seizure disorder.

What did you end up doing for the government?

This is what I like to call, I worked for the “senseless” bureau.

As a joke for “census bureau”?

Yes, but it is the senseless bureau.

Senseless, S-E-N-S-E-L-E-S-S versus C-E-N-S-U-S. So what did you do for the senseless bureau?

Well, what I did was, at that time they were just starting their 2000 senseless census.

So this would have been late 1999 or beginning of 2000?

It would’ve been the end of 1999.  I think I started there in November, December of 1999.  And what I did was worked on… I took all the info people gave us and actually people go to school for what I, for what I was doing there.  They go in for a degree in cartography.  They showed me in four months how to make a map on a computer and put everybody in the United States on a specific map for where they lived.

Did you have problems learning that?

No.  My problem was after about a year of working there and working on the computers, I started having really bad TBI petit mal seizures.

Was the cursor flashing part of the problem that caused the TBI petit mal seizures?

The cursor flashing. I would end up staring at it for a long time, minutes.

So you worked for them for about a year with the TBI petit mal seizures.

A year and a half.

Did you get medical leave for your TBI petit mal seizures?

I got medical.  They had to, I had to.  I wasn’t fired, but we agreed that I was having problems and that I should step down.

Then did you apply for Social Security Disability at that time?

I’ve had Social Security Disability every since my car accident.

So the job that you had and efforts to return to work where it didn’t necessarily disqualify you from your benefits. 

It came close.  Luckily my mom used to work for the government and she was able to converse with them in government speak, I guess is, to where I could I keep it.

Is that year and a half you worked for the census bureau, is that the longest you’ve had a job?

Longest full-time job.

And you’ve had some other part-time jobs since?

Yes.  Three of the last five I ended up losing my temper and quitting.  The first one was at Fayola’s in Kentucky, by where I used to live.  We had bought a house right by Fazoli’s.  We lost the house so we had to move to an apartment and it was too far of a drive for me, because I used to just walk to work.  So I called and told them that, you know, the, the drive is too far and we got into it and I said fine, I quit.

Next in Part Twenty Seven – Accommodating Procedural TBI Deficits

By Attorney Gordon Johnson

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