Hey all! I’m not really sure how this works but here we go. My name is Daniel. I’m a 23 year old autistic trans man working as a trauma informed educator for special needs students.

Back in may, I was forced to quit my job and take a separation agreement from oregon city school district which left me unemployed for a month and a half. While working at that district, I was continuously discriminated against, left without a voice, underpaid, and put down. They refused to take action when a colleague called me a diversity hire due to my race, and they were finding any reason to fire me. When I took the separation agreement, they lied to me and didn’t give me my full income leftover from my contract, which resulted in me losing a months worth of income.

When I ended up filing an unemployment claim, the district decided to refuse to respond to the claim, which is delaying my claim by many weeks. I am still currently waiting for unemployment, and was told I could be waiting 6-8 weeks.

Being unemployed for a month and a half has taken a huge toll on my mental health. What affected me the most, was the fact that I wasn’t able to give a proper goodbye to all of my students. My love for my students are what kept me going, and not having that made it extremely hard to find motivation to do anything. I felt as if I lost my purpose, and finding side jobs to get by has been close to impossible.

Lately I have been donating plasma to get by, but it has negatively impacted my physical health to the point where I’m constantly feeling weak, and my vision is blurry.

I was able to secure an amazing job at a new school, and I am treated so much better. I’m no longer the only person of color in my building, I feel heard and welcomed. I honestly didn’t know a school could be this healthy and function.

I absolutely adore my new students as well. As of now, I am working for the summer school program, but will be working regularly for the school year!

Unfortunately, working for summer school only offers part time employment, and isn’t nearly enough to cover my bills. After summer school ends, I won’t be working for the first 3 weeks of august, but will be full time in late august when the new school year starts. At no fault of anyone, this schedule will leave me with no income yet again and I will immediately fall behind on bills. I have no savings, my credit cards are maxed out, and I am unable to take any more loans due to my credit.

Starting a new job, waiting for unemployment to give me back pay means it will be a while until I can catch back up and be somewhat financially stable. There’s not much I can really do but wait and try to figure out ways I can get by. I’ve sold a lot of my childhood items, and I donate plasma every week.

So now I am asking my community for help.

I desperately need help with my rent, and car payment so I can continue going to work and helping our special needs students. My car is at risk of repossession. Without my car, I have no way to get to work, and I will lose my job.

I really hate being the person to ask for help. I believe that I’m supposed to be the one helping others, and I always try to help whenever i’m financially stable. But this time, I really need as much help as I can get. If i’m unable to pay my rent for august, I will be at severe risk of becoming homeless again.

All donations will go towards my rent and my car note along with gas. I am even willing to do any side jobs, or give back to the community by giving away free art commissions.

All questions can be answered by reaching out to me on instagram or discord.

IG/Discord: rigormortises

Please share this if you are unable to donate! Any little action helps alot.

thank you so much to my community. I am using my experiences, struggles, and stories as an autistic,PTSD survivor, BIPOC, lgbt young adult to serve and help our minority students who need trauma informed care.

With much love, Daniel