36. Donna

As Albert Hammond sang, “It never rains in Southern California,” it does not rain in summer. It only rains during the few winter months.

 

It is impossible to hold the umbrella and push the wheelchair at the same time. I used the poncho style rain gear, and it was troublesome and inconvenient. I had to go some distance from the school parking lot to the classrooms. On rainy days, I wore a baseball cap and went as fast as I could. By the time I got to the building, I would get wet. I went to the restroom and dried myself and the wheelchair with the paper towels before the class.

 

Day class met 2-3 times a week. 3 units evening class only met once a week and each class was 3 hours long. Sometimes, I dozed off during the class. I took 2-3 classes per semester and went to 2 years community college program for 4 years. I got more B’s than A’s, and few C’s.

 

In Korea, all college kids are the same ages. In American college, especially community college, you would see students of different ages with variety of backgrounds. It was not easy to make friends attending evening classes. I did not make a single friend. I finished Valley College in 4 years. I did not even go to the graduation ceremony. I was going to wait and go to the graduation ceremony for 4 years university. I never made that dream.

 

After Valley College, I transferred to California State University Northridge (CSUN). After a couple of semesters, I moved to Lancaster and took the leave of absence from the school. Once I moved back, I returned to CSUN, but never finished it. I was struggling to make the ends meet and did not have any motivation.

 

Professional level classification with the state required 4 years degree. But it could also be substituted with the qualified experiences. I already had the required experiences from State Fund and was doing well. I did not need the degree any more.

 

In America, disabled people have the same and equal employment opportunity. Nevertheless, not many disabled people are employed. Per 2017 stat’s, 65.7% of able body were employed while only 18.7% disabled people were working. In 80’s, prior to enactment of ADA, these figures were, most likely, even lower. Those who got injured due to the accidents would not want to work. They would get more money from the insurance carriers or the responsible parties if they did not work. Those who had childhood disabilities got money from the government and they would get used to this type of life style early.

 

A medical group State Fund worked with invited claims staff to a hotel restaurant. It was my first-time eating luncheon with the formal setting. I remembered what my grandma did when she went to the western style restaurant with Mr. Park. I used the fork and knife on the outside to eat salad, used the inside ones for the main course, took bread plate on the left, and drank from the glass on the right. On the table for 8-10 people, once a person took someone else’s, everyone would end up using wrong ones. Gradually, I found out hardly anyone followed the table etiquette I learned from the book.

 

Upon my completing of the probation as WCIT, the office gave me a new position. It was a new program, medical cost containment, to cut medical bills. State Fund never had it before.

 

A year later, I took WCIR exam and was hoping for the promotion. One day, Donna, claims manager, called me into her office. She said she would not promote me for now. They were getting too many complaints for the work I was doing.

 

It was obvious they would get complaints. Suddenly, we were cutting medical bills doctors and hospitals were submitting for the first time. She did not want me to leave the program. It would take them several months to hire my replacement and train the person. She had to hold onto me.

 

I contacted the claims supervisor in Los Angeles office. He called me for an interview and I got the promotion. When an employee left the office, the office gave him/her farewell party. Supervisor and manager would attend these luncheons. Donna did not come to my farewell party.

 

5-6 years later, I was selected for the supervisory award and went to the claims conference in San Diego. Finally, Donna came to me and congratulated me.