Any good job ideas for quadriplegics?

September 18, 2009 9:38 PM

I am a 52 year old quadriplegic (C-4,C-5 incomplete) former oil and gas senior executive. Until recently, I've been able to both support my family and afford the post-Cobra health insurance premiums available through our Texas High Risk Pool. I'll will soon be overtaken by the myriad of expenses now beginning to snowball.

Does anyone know of any legitimate stay-at-home jobs for people like me? While I can leave home occasionally for meetings, etc., realistically I need to find something (computer-based, in all likelihood) to do from my home. I would like to supplement my income by a minimum of $25,000/year.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Business / management coaching? You drum up business by doing some speaking, and then do the get to work at home over the email/phone mostly. I'm not sure how tough of a gig it would be to break into - but your experience to other up and comers has value, it's tough to find a good mentor now adays. And not to be flippant or uncouth, but your disability gives you some extra "motivational" points in the coaching department. Good luck!
posted by bigmusic at 9:44 PM on September 18, 2009

You could contact Lift, Inc. From their website (which is still updated, in spite of its appearance):

Lift, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation that qualifies, trains, hires, and places information technology professionals who have physical disabilities through contracts with major corporations who eventually hire them directly.
posted by Kevin1911 at 9:51 PM on September 18, 2009

You're completely over-qualified, but if you're looking for something quickly while you figure out what to do long-term, what about working for a virtual call centre? Basically you work from home doing customer service or selling things (incoming calls, not cold-calling). So for example, those people who you talk to if you order something on an infomercial are often at home working on the phone and computer.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:53 PM on September 18, 2009

My first thought is that you have a wealth of experience and might be able to find some consulting work, which could actually generate significant income. In addition to oil and gas companies, I would imagine there would be plenty of green energy companies who would be eager to pay for your services. Also, private equity and other investment firms are always researching new deals and I think green energy is going to be very interesting to them. They will need the perspective of an experienced but unbiased person when evaluating opportunities, which will include comparisons between traditional energy industries and the new emerging fields. This will take some networking and hustling on your part, but I bet you have a ton of connections that could lead to a very profitable situation.

Also, have you thought about teaching at all? There are business courses taught entirely online, and you could do pretty much everything involved with the class on the computer. It also lends itself to working outside the home a couple of days a week if you find you would like to incorporate working outside the home, as well. It's a bit easier to break into teaching on the college and graduate levels through community colleges, and I imagine they would love to have someone with your expertise for their business students. You really are an incredible resource, and it would be amazing if others had the opportunity to learn from you. Good luck!
posted by katemcd at 4:43 AM on September 19, 2009

Just an add-on to the above: would it be possible to set up video conferencing from your home so you don't have to go out if/when you don't want to? It's more personal than email or the telephone.
posted by x46 at 3:01 PM on September 19, 2009