I went through all this to get my SSI and Social Security disability checks...  

I don't think that anyone at that time realized just how bad my back really is.

And, it never seemed to occur to the supervisors that my cries and screams in agony were not my being belligerent, but my being in terrible pain.

I also had to see a psychiatrist for an IQ test, psychiatric tests, and whatnot. I still have to go in every 4 years or so to re-test. The latest tests showed that I am far more physically disabled than I am mentally disabled.

I am lucky in that it only took me 6 months to get on social security disability.

But, still, I had to go through heck and a half to get on it.

Recently I tried to file a complaint against the sheltered workshop, after I realized that some of their treatment of me were abusive and in violation of some rules, but to no avail because I had far exceeded the statute of limitations.

And, so, I am having to go online with my story instead.

I remember what REALLY went on at that sheltered workshop even though they thought I was stupid or something. Perhaps they thought that I wouldn't remember a single bit of it and would tell no one.

All I can hope and pray is that others who are having to go through places like that aren't being treated the same or worse.

I wouldn't treat a dog the way they treated me there.

Those who are moderately or severely mentally challenged are still people, and deserve to be respectfully treated as such, with safety goggles, thick and heavy work gloves, and other safety gear readily available and readily distributed when needed. I heard again and again that so-and-so lost fingers and hands in the heavy chopping equipment. Those who did have gloves, often had gloves with huge, gaping holes in them.

And, for goodness sakes, don't put a normal-IQ person through such demeaning and degrading work for hours on end, and don't put someone with severe back pain through such physically demanding work so as to leave the person screaming and doubled over in pain!

Those with disabilities are PEOPLE!

Couldn't they find SOMETHING at least SOMEWHAT close to my mental and physical abilities?

I talked with a disability lawyer about this briefly a week or two ago, and now I wonder why I was made to go through that place at all. I think it was a mistake. Someone did a boo-boo.

I have been scarred, possibly for life, from this experience. It's like I am always having to prove to myself and to others that I am brighter than I was treated at that sheltered workshop, and that I am not crazy.

No matter how much I achieve, it's never really good enough.

I have been scarred from a lot of other things as well to bring me to this point, but the sheltered-workshop experience did a lot to contribute to this.

I think that if I really had as low of an IQ as they thought I did at that sheltered workshop, I would not be writing about my experiences even now, and all of myLot would not be made aware that this sort of thing went on.

The supervisors probably thought, "She is dumber than a brick. We can do whatever we want and treat her however we want and get away with it."

Wow...I must be an idiot savant to be able to type like this and yet not be able to count to ten. LOL!

Because my back is in so much pain, I am not able to go to counseling for this and the other severe traumas, however. I can't sit through even a fraction of a session without feeling like my back is on fire.

So, writing this out is my therapy, at least for now.

At least here I can get up and walk around between posts and whatever.

I bet that you are scarred for life.

I hope that you being able to write about it does prove to be good therapy for you. It sounds like a good idea.

There seems to be an idea among some people that those with disabilities are non-human, sub-human, or second-class citizens.

This experience was actually the starting point of a long story of my being treated like I am somehow inferior, with the vast majority of it being while I have been in severe pain, helpless, and vulnerable.

And, these experiences helped lead me into organic vegetarianism. I started to see similarities between these experiences and the kind of thinking that causes some of the worst abuses in factory farming, slaughterhouses, denial of workers rights, sweatshops, farm workers being constantly exposed to toxic pesticides, and other cruelties.

After seeing and experiencing one thing after another firsthand, my thinking about what I eat, how I eat, and how and where I buy my clothes, household cleaners, paper goods, pens, etc., started to change.

I really can't see a very large jump between animal cruelty and cruelty to humans. If one can be cruel to animals, what does it take to be cruel to humans?

I wonder if those people and companies that pay for cheap subcontract labor for things like making trophies, cutting and sorting telephone wire, shredding documents, sorting fishing licenses, and stuffing metal containers with homemade old-fashioned caramel corn, have had ANY idea what all has gone into their cheap labor with tax write-offs.

Sure, they get a jolly feel-good feeling from supposedly helping the mentally challenged, but is the place really HELPING the mentally challenged, or is the facility actually HURTING them? I wonder if any of those people and companies did their own investigations and inspections first, or did they just look at the dollars they could be saving and the supposedly humanitarian image put forth by the sheltered workshop? Sure it's great for public relations and for profits, sure, but was it really what it said it was?

One of the things that I found funny is that about one month after I finished my time at the sheltered workshop, I got a solicitation in the mail, mailed to me with my name on it, asking me to pay money to go to a golf tournament with dinner included, all to raise funds for their supposedly humanitarian organization. What audacity! Someone must have had some idea that I am not of low IQ to even mail me that flier. How could I even read it if I could not count to ten? Probably, I was just put on some mailing list.

One moral of the story is this: Really put some thought into what you buy, where you buy it, is it sustainable, its environmental impact, and how the company treats or exploits its workers. Your dollars could be going to support something like what I had to endure, or worse.

Every time you spend a dollar, you are voting with that dollar. And, cheaper is not necessarily better for you, for the Earth, and for the workers.