While sitting in the only upholstered, soft chair, I observed a lifestyle very different from mine. In the early morning, there was a line of people from the business district close by who frequented the place. They reminded me of a herd of cattle as they trailed outside the door impatiently waiting. Most of the herd had faces with no expression of happiness, coming from what I deduced was being jaded by a luxurious lifestyle. In an almost mindless, automaton way they paid for their almost four-dollar cup of java. These folks made a religious habit out of investing a substantial monthly sum they were financially capable of paying. Their clothing was evident of this as well.
Men in designer suits with meticulously styled hair; women very intentionally garbed in status brands of apparel to compete in a man's world abounded. Gucci bags, suede, faux leopard, and genuine leather gleamed in the light. Diamonds and twenty-four-carat golf studded the cattle line almost like very expensive "branding irons"! It was foreign to me how most folks seemed to avoid any human contact, maintaining the same face appearing as though novocaine was injected to make it impossible to smile.
Why does this matter to anyone with seizures? All the seeming extravagant daily luxury had become routine. These individuals had jobs that paid well enough for them to allot this mundane segment of their lives. We with seizures know we are probably as qualified as many in that coffee line; we have discriminatory boundaries most of them probably do not. That is not a silly, unwarranted assumption. Nobody with financial difficulties would be in there at all. I was there with my cup of coffee because nothing else was open. It is not routine with me, nor would it ever be.
That 50K yearly salary is banned usually from our lives, but not because our qualifications are inadequate. We have unfair biases based on fiction. That includes you and I. You and I more than meet many prestigious job descriptions. You and I, if our seizures pose a threat to others, or ourselves, must disclose the truth about our invisible disorder. Immediately, transportation becomes a great issue and you and I are treated more like pizza delivery boys and girls than the over qualified Office Manager you and I might have inquired about! (I speak from experience!) It doesn't even matter that driving was unnecessary to meet the qualifications of the position.
