Hello,
I want to be upfront, I am searching for help to get off SSDI and get financial assistance to help pay for vocational training so I can take care of my family on my own again. I want to earn a living but I need four months of training so I can learn a trade that will work around my disability.
I'm 39 years old and a few years ago i was rear ended in a really bad car accident by a large truck while waiting at a traffic light on my way home from work when my entire life changed faster than that light I was waiting at could turn green. I remember just feeling a warm sensation go down my legs and i felt pain in my spine because when that truck hit my car my spine was crushed and It fracture (broke) four of my spinal bones and crushed four disc. I have five children and a wife so i have so much to live for even though the past three surgeries, extrem pain and rehabilitation seems like more than any human could endure but I have and now I need to learn a new trade or skilli so I can work around my disability and still be self sustaining and earn my families living. I am stable now, mostly I have pain all the time and I cant conform to the structure of a 9-5pm type of schedule because I need to be able to lay down, sit up, recline or stand throughout the day as needed. Mornings are usually my worst part of the day because my pain is very high and I have to let it calm down by moving around for a few hours. I am currently getting by on Social Security Disability (SSDI) and I have brainstormed for a while about what I could be doing from home to support my own family and get off SSDI so we could have a better quality of life and we could get our pride back, and feel less depressed. I realized that my brain is still very sharp and I have always had an interest in law so I attended the UNLV Paralegal Certificate Program information session and after speaking with the folks at the UNLV Paralegal Certificate program and explaining my situation to them they agreed that I would be able to work from home mostly preparing legal forms for people that needed these forms or legal answers completed for customers that did not know how to prepare them without legal assistance from a paralegal. In fact they told me that more and more people are using paralegals with the economy in it's current condition and most of the UNLV paralegals are choosing to work from home doing the same thing I thought would get me back to work and off SSDI. Working for myself and from home will allow me the work structure that I can sustain, I can work on legal forms for customers on my laptop while sitting in the recliner chair or even when Im in my bed if need be so I feel like I have found a solid way to become self supporting even after my major setbacks, I do not want to just give up! I am in need of a scholarship, gift from someone who cares about people and supports my attitude to always find a way and are willing to never just except SSDI for the rest of their lives when I can be creative and contribute to my family and society. I would also love a private student loan since the federal student loan programs do not offer assistance to continuing education programs from universities like the paralegal certificate program I need to complete. I need some way or some one to help me find a way to pay the fee's to attend the UNLV Paralegal Certificate program that begins on 2/22/2011 and ends four months later on 6/9/2011. The classes are in the evenings from 6pm-9pm on Tuesday and Thursdays so I know I can handle that schedule since it's during the evenings only two days a week for four months. I am requesting a gift or someone can pay the tuition I will help them with any legal services for a lifetime for free and will be able to stop collecting SSDI from Social Security. The cost of the UNLV Paralegal Program, books, parking permit is about $6,500. I also will need supplies because I need a laptop (used is fine) to do this program and we had to sell our laptop computer to pay bills last year before my SSDI payments started. Thank you for taking a few minutes to read my request. Your help would be life changing for not only myself but for my wife and our three girls and two boys who need to grow up seeing what it means to work through disabilities, hard times and set backs and come out the other end as a winner because you dont give up hope. Before my car accident I always made a point to take time to help each of my children to work hard at everything they do and to not create excuses or limitations for themselves so they could be all they ever dreamed to be in life but always showing them that they will have to earn our way through life, Im a Dad that can still be that example and contribute but I dearly need help to get the retraining I need to do it. I have searched everywhere else I could think of for help but Im still needing to search because I havent found the assistance we need yet. Plus, at my age I would be saving Social Security 100's of thousands of dollars paying SSDI benefits to me for the rest of my life and that doesnt have to be that way. I hope someone reaches out and helps for whatever reason, our family would never forget you! Thank you for reading.
