ATHABASCA — Getting up and going to work is the biggest responsibility on many Albertans’ everyday to-do lists, a task that can turn monotonous and begrudging. But when was the last time you thought about the people who want to work, but cannot? Or the employees who are happy to be working, but whose duties may look different than yours?
October is recognized on both provincial and federal levels as disability employment awareness month, and this year, staff at the Whitecourt Employment Services offices in Athabasca and Westlock highlighted one woman’s story that hits close to home.
“I had a sickness that nobody knew what it was, and I started getting sick at the age of 12,” Darcie Statham Cardinal told the group gathered before her in Westlock Oct. 23. “At 14 they started to notice something was wrong.”
Cardinal, now 53, has been living and working in Athabasca for more than 10 years, is a new homeowner, and published her own book called Live Out Loud! In 2011. She uses her story as a way to empower others who have experienced similar difficulties to reach their full potential.
“I wrote a book, and when I said I was going to write a book, people laughed at me,” said Cardinal with a chuckle. “They were all like, ‘Oh, you’re kidding me,’ but I did, I wrote a book.”
During a childhood fraught with medical issues that seemed to have more questions than answers, Cardinal got to know many of the support workers in Westlock by way of different organizations, many of whom remain big supporters of her story and pursuits.
Over the years, Cardinal endured, overcoming her physical limitations, even emerging from full paralysis after relearning how to walk, talk, and eat without aids.
“Darcie was born and she knew where she was before, and then all of this stuff happened to her and she regressed,” said Lee-Anne Stark, Westlock employment manager. “She had this work ethic and this drive to keep going, and keep learning, and not giving up; this perseverance that was inside of her.”
Encouraged to pursue employment by her support workers, and fresh out of an abusive relationship with no financial security or supports around here, she turned to the Employment Services office to look for a job.
“My father was a workaholic, he encouraged us all to work at an early age, so even though I was sick I was working and doing stuff, learning to drive a stick shift and riding horses,” said Cardinal. “So I always remembered that, and wanted that back.”
She started working in hospitality, with a position at a hotel, and quickly got a second role serving at a local restaurant. Riding the forward momentum, Cardinal also got her driver’s licence in another step towards independence.
After making strides in Westlock, Cardinal was motivated to get a job outside of her home community to escape the opinions of others who thought less of her due to her abilities, or those who treated her too delicately.
She interviewed for a hospitality position in Athabasca, and although she was hired on the spot, she wanted to prove her abilities to her new employer without sharing her whole story.
“It hasn’t been easy,” said Cardinal. “The first thing in my head was I wasn’t going to tell them I was disabled, so I didn’t. And for the first three months, people just hated me because I was having trouble getting it.”
“Then one day (my boss) came, he got right in my face, and said, ‘Are you disabled?’ I didn’t say anything, but I think he knew that I was, and then after that he started teaching me himself.”
Now, after 10 years in that same position, Cardinal has learned to speak a few words of Korean and has taken a manager’s course and moved up in the hotel hierarchy, now taking the time to train others.
“Darcie has this drive for life, and her drive for life is contagious,” said Stark, who accompanied Cardinal on both of her talks for disability employment awareness month.
Cardinal’s parting advice for guests at her speeches, and anyone going through difficulty, is to not let go of that drive.
“Life gets hard sometimes, and you forget that life is wonderful despite all of that. You need to know during the hard times you need to still treat yourself, still go do fun things.”
