Health Issues, Self-employment, & Miseducation
This season’s Great Food Truck Race started with eight contestants. Two of them were on the show because of injury or illness. One an electrician until a major auto accident and injuries meant he had to find a new way to support himself. And recovery from a brain tumor inspired the other contestant to pursue her dream after the major illness disrupted her plans.
In 2011, Restaurant Impossible featured Off Street Cafe, a highly profitable business venture for the operators before things gradually fell apart. Listen to the interview and you learn that a major element in the downfall was that one partner injured her foot in a boating accident, and for six months could not work. And the business started to slide.
These reality food shows are useful business ed tools, but lousy vehicles for
people vying to compete on them as a new means of support, given the tiny number of available slots.
The public has a distorted stereotypical notion of what disability involves. And only when personally confronted by a crisis does the economic reality of the situation become clear.
Unlessit’s a documentary or telethon, here’s what viewers typically see on popular media:
▪ A person with a disability, at the scene of a murder is later tracked by the killer, who is unaware the witness can’t provide an ID. Or
▪ The person with the disability is the killer. Or
▪ The star in a crime drama experiences a major disability but is healed by the end of the program. Or
▪ The star in a crime drama accidentally injures and disables a seemingly innocent bystander…who was not standing by but playing lookout for criminals.
And in notable instances, dramatic TV has portrayed investigators who become disabled because of a criminal act, and continue in their field.
Given the large numbers of people who are temporarily or permanently disabled, each year through accident, injury or illness and the economic issues they confront, program content on an educational level is zero and could easily be described as ludicrous.
Adapted from Changing Your Work or Career:
How to Explore Self-Employment Options After Injury or Illness.
References
Food Truck Race
http://tinyurl.com/3tfhx9c
Restaurant Impossible
http://tinyurl.com/mureeuv
