Sandra Duran

My son was a victim of celebratory gunfire. On the New Year of 2012, he was struck in the head by a stray bullet. Diego was only 12 years old. He received disability (SSI) as I pretty much stayed at the hospital with him full time. After 5 months of multiple surgeries and therapies, he was finally discharged. Once he started school, with a 504-accommodation plan and was “stable”, I thanked SSI and declined any further assistance. I thought Diego would fully recover and thought there were others who may need it more than him. With a lot of support and persistence, Diego graduated high school and went to community college to become an auto mechanic tech. He worked at a restaurant to save money and buy a Toyota Tacoma, which he still owns to this day. Diego’s dream job was to become a mechanic and work for Toyota. The day of his graduation, he applied for a job at Toyota and got it. This was one of his happiest moments and a celebrated accomplishment!

Little did we know, he would face significant challenges at work. Diego is in good health, but to this day, he faces challenges with short term memory, anxiety and in processing emotions. His disability is silent and invisible.

For the first few years at work, he seemed to have a good support system. Once management changed, his new supervisor did not understand how to deal with his disability and perhaps thought he was being arrogant or difficult. Due to lack of support, education and misunderstanding at the workplace, he was asked to sign a termination form. Diego declined because he thought it would ruin his reputation. After a few days of mandatory leave, he resigned because he couldn’t remain in the job. He felt neglected and stressed and this was affecting his mental health.

That is the time it took for me to realize I should have encouraged him to be involved in a support group at a younger age, investigated further information about TBI and long-term effects, accommodations and overall support for him to thrive as a young adult. I do not think large companies are trained and prepared to deal with employees with TBI and other disabilities. He is now taking a break and we both agree that during this time, we should seek for support before he moves further into pursuing another job. I do feel guilty for thinking he would make it with family support. Now I know he needed more than that. I hope Diego can move forward, develop meaningful relationships and find employment. For him to succeed, he will have to find a job with a company that cares about their employees so that he can thrive and maintain his job.