Books from all ages depict such a view: The classic one, of course, is Orwell’s 1984; or of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451; but more recently, of Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and even more recently of Ogawa’s, The Memory Police. They all possess a thread of commonality: Of a society both frightening and oppressive, based upon human fears and the insecurity wrought by where we are going, the trends of modernity which succumb to believability, and the suspicion that such dystopian consequences are actually possible.
Orwell was wrong, of course — Big Brother did not have to forcibly place tele-screens into people’s homes; instead, each of us volunteered to go out and purchase such spying screens, and with our own hard-earned money in the form of Smartphones, televisions and laptops. And while no one comes and burns our books, we have effectively accomplished such a misdeed by slowly and incrementally converting them all into digital devices, thus ensuring that we won’t actually know whether the published content of a book is what was originally intended; for, he who controls the digital device has ultimate control over its content, whereas a book published in its original form cannot be altered except by forcible means.
As for Atwood’s theme and Ogawa’s portrayal of the world — they deal with the two aspects of a life in a frightening way: Of the subjugation of the body (The Handmaid’s Tale) and of controlling the mind (The Memory Police). All are fictional works; yet, somehow we can “relate” to the stories being told. How is that? Is it because we have a dystopian perspective already prepared within us by society’s callous conduct?
For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition such that the medical condition prevents the Federal or Postal employee from performing one or more of the essential elements of his or her Federal or Postal job, the Dystopian Perspective is a very familiar one. For, being ostracized; being condemned; being harassed and being subjected to unfair treatment — it all comes in a bundle once you can no longer “perform” at the level expected by the Federal Agency or the Postal Service.
When that Dystopian Perspective becomes unbearable, then it is time to consider preparing, formulating and filing an effective Federal Disability Retirement application through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. And, while the Dystopian Perspective may not turn into an Utopian Reality, it is far better than the subjugation of the human mind and body that gets increasingly worse under Big Brother’s eye.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: Reflections of an OPM Disability Retirement Lawyer | Tagged: anxiety disability federal employees opm, disability retirement into retirement for postal service at age 62, disability usps form 50 codes, eeoc complaint charge for disability harrassment anxiety, example answers for fers disability retirement are not useful because each case is different (medical condition and job duties): ask atty mcgill for help, federal disability retirement for fire fighter federal, federal employee with restricted leave panic attacks and anxiety disorder, federal law enforcement office dol medical retirement, fers application disability impact statement opm, fers disability statement description of symptoms, file a grevance on msha owcp or file for opm disability retirement? which is the most practical for a federal employee with limited resoruces, general services administration gsa medical retiring, getting medically retired from department of veterans affairs?, going from owcp/feca to opm dissability annunity why? most fers employees prefer not to deal with workers comp harrassment, government employee being diagnosed with stress and anxiety, government medical retirement opm, help with government form 3112d, how long after your opm disability retirement got approve will you get paid: it can be several weeks to months, how long after your opm disability retirementement before you get paid leave? search “back pay issues” in this site, how long does the opm reconnsideration stage take? ask attorney mcgill about the deadline – no strings attached free first time consultation, how to file for early medical postal retirement, light duty federal employment policies, light duty opm fers disability, medical retirement from gsa government with experienced lawyer, opm disability requirement from polycystic kidney disease, opm fmla awol, opm hostile work environment and disability retirement, opm medical disability packet, owcp 2nd opinion return to work and opm medical retirement alternative, owcp feca and social security disability, owcp opinion examinatiosn for schedule award and disability retirement, post office disability retirement benefits attorney, postal employee with trauma claim owcp closed denied, process for disability retirement in the forest service, ptsd owcp federal employment attorney, retiring from the post office early due to disability cers, sf 3112 medical retirement, sleeping on the job opm due to apnea, ssdi offsets scheduled award lawyer, the usps does not approve or disapprove medical retirement itself but that’s done by the opm or dol owcp depending on the benefit sought, us postal system retirement disability plans, usps notice of removal against disabled employee with excessibe absence, va long term light duty policy and procedures v. disability retirement procedures, what is an impact statement for disability opm tribunals, what should I write when I file for a disibility statement under fers, workers comp case close and denial of benefits, workmans comp case denied, writing a fers disability statement for disability application purposes, www.dod disability form 3107 disabilty retirement, www.dol.gov list of pre existing conditions medical retirement | Leave a comment »