I just heard the show on TAL, and while it was interesting, some aspects grated, particularly the one about learning disabilities. That part of the show is goi

I just heard the show on TAL, and while it was interesting, some aspects grated, particularly the one about learning disabilities. That part of the show is going to end up as a proxy for all kinds of mental disabilities, making it sound like these things not only don't exist, but when they exist, they don't matter. I know some people on disability who have mental issues. Some had developmental problems, and some had strokes, and some have mental illness, and there are other situations in between. They aren't employable, at least not easily and full time. The reason is that as the economy has shifted to a service economy, the service jobs, which used to be considered "kick back" or basically low stress, have become high stress. When the profits of the business depend on the service workers, the stress falls on the service workers. That stress is either around increasing production of mentally produced product (I'm sure programmers here know this), or of producing a positive psychological experience for someone else. For example, the people working in retail have to be nice. They can't be grouchy and talk shit to each other like people used to when they worked in factories. Maybe Joffe-Walt hasn't really thought about this, but within the class of sit-down jobs, the ones she has are not the common kind. There's variety in the work, and a huge need to "think outside the box". Even the stressors have some variety to them. Most service jobs are about forcing your mind into the box, and handling the same stressors over and over. These are easy on the muscles, but rough on the mind, and the mind, as we sometimes forget, is a manifestation of the brain, an organ in the body, subject to being overworked and injured.