Unique position in life

Yeah there's no need to disclose anything for DOT physical, and I wouldn't. I was speaking about how would I explain lack of work to an employer as an applicant? I would likely pass the physical fine. Vision is my biggest weakness physically, but I just got a fresh new pair of glasses (with progressive no line bifocal for the first time) this past week.

That's easy for you to say. I'm guessing you're not at the complete mercy of the government for your continued survival. I have a disabled elderly parent to also worry about. And I don't watch any mainstream media, and I avoid scare tactic clickbait indie news. Just find the raw uncensored videos of these people saying their thoughts and intentions, it's clear what the agenda is. You don't need to skew anything.

Yeah but it's one thing to be stuck in a retail job where you're dealing with dozens, if not hundreds of people, all day every day. It's quite another to deal with a few people every few days.

And yes, it's impossible to apply for any job without disclosure of my disability history. Maybe it'll be less bad if a CDL is in hand, unlike how I reached out to Swift hoping for their in house training and no CDL in hand yet. With CDL in hand, it shows I'm capable of operating.

 

I'm trying to keep the political talk to a bare minimum, and only relevant to this specific topic. My situation wouldn't make any logical sense without political context surrounding it.

 

Why are you so being hostile? It seems pretty uncalled for. I don't personally owe you any explanation for anything. Especially if you're going to come at me pounding your chest like that.

As to my thoughts, I have already explained them, in great detail, about why I think otr would be a good fit for me. Go back and read the original post.

 

It's a two way street. You didn't ask anything specific. You just demanded that I explain myself. You're still being vague. "what you think this is all about" is just about as vague as anyone could be. If you have something specific to ask, by all means, ask it and I'll try to answer it.

Yes, I have been doing a lot of research on this, so I'm at like mostly aware of the process, at least on paper. You have to start somewhere, ya know? I'm trying to educate myself as much as possible before hand. That's why I am here. And what you are describing is basically 98% of all jobs in general. I may be on disability, but I haven't had my head buried in the sand. I know that it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

Just because I haven't held an official job, that doesn't mean I have been hiding in a room by myself for 25 years. I used to do a bit of PC repair for strangers for a few bucks here and there before I moved away out of state over a decade ago. i have a friend that I did some ebay selling with a long time ago, but the source of what were selling got busted for felony theft of some the stuff we were buying from him via ebay. oops. we had no way of knowing and they didn't go after his ebay buyers. so that guy's greed ruined that for us and anyone else buying from him. He was local so we had free pickup, no shipping costs.

In more recent years, I have made a few bucks here and there doing auto maintenance (oil changes, air filter replacements) and RV repairs for people. I did several the past few months. Diagnosed a literally burned up circuit board on a late 90s motorhome, and installed the new one after the guy ordered it. Did a roof vent replacement on a lady's early 2000s motorhome and sealed it up properly, fixing some idiot's past work she paid to do that left the room unsealed in several places. I've done generator repairs on a motorhome a couple times for an eldery full time RV couple that I'm friends with. Oh and helped fix the HVAC blend door on their jeep shortly before I drove back from Arizona to my mom's house in the south. I helped out a locally owned RV parts/repair shop owner with installing a new RV awning, because his son was unavailable and it requires 2 people. It was a one time thing, not a regular job or gig. But I swing by and say hi every time I come to town, and chat until they have a customer walk in, needing assistance,

So, it's not as if I have never dealt with people or done any kind of labor for individuals. But no, I have never held a full or part time job.

I ended up homeless at one point a long time ago, but got myself into a homeless shelter quickly (the disability thing was why, but still. I could have vehicle slept if needed) and then after about a week or so, I was already in transitional housing (a private studio apartment) because I didn't sit on my butt sulking about my situation. It was technically a halfway house, but they accept anyone who's clean and sober. I was there about 5 months before I moved out to a subsidized apartment, the one I stayed in a couple years before leaving out of being miserable due to not traveling, going on the road living in vehicles... which is still technically my current living situation, aside from staying at my mom's now and then like right now.

What can I say? I like living in vehicles and moving around constantly. It's just how my brain is wired. I was like that as a little kid, I always wished we could go live somewhere else constantly. I'm talking starting around age 8. If my autism and lack of proper treatment as a kid hadn't gotten in the way, I likely would have gotten CDL as soon as legally possible and gone OTR. I was put on meds that no kid should take, unless they have debilitating problems, like smashing their head against the wall. One made me gain a crapton of weight at age 12-13, and then another doctor switched me to something else that made me crash diet and lose all the weight in a matter of a few months, returning me to my normal skinny self. That's not healthy. And even once I was skinny as hell, he wanted to keep me on it. He wanted to kill me, that's the only logical explanation. My mom FINALLY spoke up and demanded he take me off it, because I couldn't eat much of anything. It was Dexedrine, originally intended for treating obesity, but has the side effect of helping ADHD so now that's the main things it's prescribed for now. But that doesn't stop it from having the effect of being a diet aid for obesity by it's very design.

Why am I saying all this? Well, you want reasons why I think OTR is for me, so I'm telling you. It's a very complicated subject, if you want to understand my thought processes and motivations.

I half understand "my input matters more than most you are reading" but not fully. Could you elaborate?

Hold on now, you're putting words in my mouth. I never indicated in any way, shape or form that I want to be treated delicately, specially, or differently because of my history of disability. It's simply an inescapable fact of reality that cannot be ignored. It will HAVE to be brought up to any employer that I have been on disability. How can it NOT? They'll ask why I have no work history. Well, that's why. Unless you want me to lie about why I can't provide any work history whatsoever?

That's why I'm looking to get CDL first now, rather than trying to go through a mega for training. Get CDL first, show that I am serious and have the skills to do the job, and hope someone will not care about my past lack of work history.

I'm aware of this. I have been driving passenger vehicles for 20 years, and I never any ticket of any kind (not even parking), never had any at-fault accidents, no DUIs (I never drink alcohol at all), Yes I know a fully loaded semi isn't the same. That's why training is a thing.

Actually, you're wrong... in the sense that I haven't been told that. I read this post this post before I posted my own here. I like to pride myself in being as well-informed as possible about any given subject I look into. So I'm that, if nothing else.

I have been some watching youtube videos, avoiding the ones that try to glamorize it. I hate that crap. The full time RV community has that going on too, It might make entertaining content for some people, but it's not based on reality. I have also been reading a lot of threads on r/truckers, specifically about rookie pay, people's experiences with megas, etc etc. I get it's gonna a slog.

So, it's not like I woke up and instantly got on here saying I wanted to be a trucker, without any forethought. I have put a LOT of thought and consideration into this. Maybe it's not for me, that's entirely possible. But you'll fail 100% of the time at things you never try.