William Robb - Profile

My name is William Robb,Jr. I was born in 1947 and am one of the aging WWII baby boomers.

Since age 8 I have suffered but overcome an acquired neurological disability which was only recognised to be a disabling in 1980.

My disability is Traumatic Brain Injury and can be likened to picking up your computer, throwing it to the floor and then expecting it to work properly without being reprogrammed. Fortunately we can have our computers reprogramed. The same is not true for your brain. It is a one time program which cannot be duplicated. Although it cannot be reprogrammed;it be trained to compensate for those deficits with which you may have been left. This compensation can only be complete if the survivor is given professional help at all stages of recovery. If he isn't then he may find, as I did, that his compensation is not complete because it had failed to address these hidden deficits. In my case I was left with aproximately 16 residuals. I never received professional help. It now appears that I am dependent upon government assistance becuse of this lack of help. None was readily available in 1955 but some was as early as the 1960's but still I received no help. Maybe if I had I would not now have to rely upon government aid.

Without professional help I graduated from the University of Wisconsin, did graduate work in education at the University of South Carolina and became certified to teach. I also did graduate work in paralegal training at the National Center for Paralegal Training Atlanta,Georgia. At the completion of this course of study I was certified to do paralegal work.

It seems that with all my credentials that I would now be employed. Such is not the case and I am now on disability instead of being empolyed. It appears that my present status may have been caused by one of my residuals which made me appear to be a risk for employment. This limitation is called Epilepsy and has been medically controlled now for 41 years. Why should it have made me appear to be a risk for employment?

If you haven't guessed by now, I am an American but more importantly I am a person with a disability.

As an American I am activally trying to get laws passed which will benefit not only our disabled but also all American's. Those things which I am trying to get changed are laws which may make us appear to be risk for employment.

In March of 1998,I became a contributing editor of Suite 101. My main emphesis is on advocacy. As an advocate I am trying to show government the monetary benefit of reducing the unemployment rate for the disabled to somewhere around the national average. Presently,in my country,it is almost 12 times the national average or approximately 70%.

As an American,writing for Suite 101, I am trying to make my site tailored to all people with disabilities. I do not want other disabled people to believe that I feel that the only disabled people are American. Instead I want all readers, ,disabled or not, to know that I feel that disability does not have a national boundry. I want all to know that a disability is a disability no matter what country we come from or what language we speek.