The program for disabled adults, downstairs at the building in Watertown, where I did the first of two work assessments on November 3, 2016, is a sad place, as most of the places where disabled adults have to spend all day are. Somewhere between 10 and 20 adults of various ages were in a set of a few small rooms, furnished sparely with tables and chairs, hard surfaces everywhere under the fluorescent lights. The clients were all as nice as could be; everyone said Hi and there were inquisitive smiles all around. The person who supervised my work assessment was asked question after question about me, while I cleaned the bathrooms. They are monotonous places, where those whom G-d has unfathomably blessed less spend their years.
Both bathrooms had feces on the walls, feces which had dried weeks, months or years ago, as most places where disabled people have to spend all day usually do. Janitors don't clean the walls regularly because they know that feces will be smeared again on the walls whether the walls are clean or not. The argument that "Your disability is not your fault, it is a biological condition like other illnesses," routinely used to bludgeon people into taking medication, always stops short of providing the standard of cleanliness that is expected by and for people who have other ailments.
Copyright L. Kochman, January 4, 2017 @ 6:12 p.m.
