I am on a clinic in Seattle. All in all it is a pretty good clinic. They have not implemented the new regulations, yet but they are supposed to be. We'll see.

My story is about things that can get changed if you go by your clinic's grievance policy. I did that and had very good results and this will help a lot of people other than myself. I have post-traumatic stress disorder. Because of that and the stress that I feel when I am at my clinic my therapist and myself though it would be for the best to limit my contact with the clinic. I applied for carries but I didn't qualify because I didn't work. I can't work because of the PTSD. So, according to the policy I went to the next person in the chain of command. That was turned down too.

When it finally got to the director of the clinic, he said the reason that it kept getting turned down was because my letter of support was written by a mental health professional. Those were not accepted. Only letters from medical doctors. So finally the director accepted the letter and he also gave me my carries.

He called me himself and told me that by doing things properly I helped a lot of people because they would now accept letters on an individual basis - letters from mental health professionals and they also would evaluate on an individual basis the work rule.

If you are legally disable due to a mental problem you would be treated the same as someone with a medical (physical) disability. I know we are all covered by the ADA. But they mean other than that. The director told me they should have done away with the employment requirement a long time ago. He said that no one ever went through the procedure to bring it to their attention. So, that made me feel like I had won a small victory for all of us. Especially those who have mental health issues. Things can be accomplished by advocating in the correct manner. I hope it works for all of you.