What Do You Do?

https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-that-you-do-for-a-living/answer/Angela-Ronson

I had a retirement plan. It was like a 401K, but the IRS equivalent for a non-profit. It's known as a 403B. I was 32. I thought I wouldn't need it yet.

With all the daringness of a young person, I left my job and cashed out that 403B. I already had a job lined up. I'd be paying into a different system. I still had my Social Security, but I knew it only gave a bare minimum. I wasn't completely working without a safety net.

I had a stroke. It wasn't the regular kind and there wasn't any warning. I was healthy and not over-weight. I didn't smoke and seldom drank alcohol. I had low blood pressure!

What happened is that I was born with a tangle of blood vessels in my head called an AVM. That stands for arteriovenous malformation. An artery ends up directly going into a vein without capillaries. Blood pressure is higher in arteries. The artery vessels are made to take it. Veins can't. AVMs usually burst, probably due to this blood pressure situation. AVMs rarely occur and are usually detected after they bleed. There are no preventative measures.

I never knew I had this thing. What happened to me can be viewed as a freak accident. They are very rare. It was a stroke, but the circumstances were strange.

Since I write, I should at least be minimally conscious, if not fully conscious. The system wasn't set up to deal with this issue. I say it is a communication disability. The problems experienced are consistent with discrimination of a disability. I did not speak at time of testing. I speak now. Right now I don't swallow. Give me time. I'll eventually do it, but that's not for a living. I most likely will remain not conscious unless I am evaluated in person. My paperwork does not look like me. Right now I don't do anything for a living.