Creative Job Suggestions?

[haumeaGeth]

I'm in a bit of a pickle. My husband lives in the US, and we're trying to immigrate him to Canada so we can finally be together. The problem is, however, that I don't have an income, which disqualifies me from sponsoring him. He doesn't have any other way of entering the country that wouldn't put us in lifelong debt.

This isn't terribly complicated on its own — the trouble is that I'm chronically ill, and so far am unable to even drive, let alone work. I did apply for disability payments, which our lawyer confirmed would still qualify me to be a sponsor, but, well... Having spoken to others on disability here, it could be anywhere from a month, to another year before I hear anything back. And it's incredibly unlikely I'll be approved right off the bat.

I'm not willing to wait that long. So my question is this: does anyone have any suggestions for how I could make an income? The amount doesn't matter, the immigration office does not care. I've already applied to a couple libraries near me, since I know they're disability-friendly. I don't really have any special skills except for the myriad of crafts I do. I know I could monetize that if I really put my back into it. I also have a high-quality microphone and am thinking about starting voice acting, though that takes a long, long time to bring in any money at all, so it'll be more of a side gig. And that's all I can think of! I want to look at as many options as I can, and I feel like there have to be more, but I feel like I just don't know what's out there!

Any other working disabled people here? What's your job? Are there any positions I haven't thought of that can be done sitting down? I feel like you guys would have more interesting ideas than people on Reddit would!

[akyra00]

Have you thought about some sort of call-center, internet-support stuff?

Are you able to walk? If yes, maybe helping out as a cook?

The voice acting is a great idea, but it takes alot, im sure u'll be fine tho, especially when you have a great voice to act with


Do you have some sort of cheese shop around you, where you could work as a "Recommender" or helper in general?

If you have a pottery near you, that could be great, since you mostly only need your hands and love crafting stuff.

Sorry if i recommended anything you are not physically able to, i don't know what kind of disablements you have ;(

Life must be pretty rough, im so proud of you, actually trying to do stuff, trying to be near your fiancee. He must be a wonderful and caring person.

If you want, you can DM me what kind of disability you have, and what your interests are, and i could try to help with recommendations. 

GOOD LUCK! 

[haumeaGeth]

Sorry if i recommended anything you are not physically able to, i don't know what kind of disablements you have ;(

Oh, oops. Yeah, actually saying what I'm capable of would have been helpful, wouldn't it? xD

I have POTS and chronic fatigue. I'm actually not able to walk much, so I can't do any job that requires me to be on my feet, which already rules out a lot unfortunately. I'm actually considering getting an electric wheelchair someday, I just have other big expenses that need to come first and I'm not eligible to get it covered :')

I do actually have both cheese shops and pottery studios near me, those are both wicked ideas!! See, this is why I asked here, I knew I'd get funky suggestions xD

Thank you for your help!

[Ducky]

I, too am in a similar situation where it is not impossible but though very difficult for me to work a ""regular"" job due to disabilities (mainly mental disabilities, though I do have a physical ailment that will need physical therapy to relieve.)

I am a freelance artist who does commissions and project work. I'm not sure what your field of art is, but perhaps you can offer commissions. Of course, art commissions are a competitive market for most mediums, but it can at least be worth looking into. You could also maybe look into selling your goods online if they are physical art pieces.

Something else I do to earn a little bit more money is by doing virtual tasks and surveys for researchers on sites like Amazon MTURK and Prolific. I find Prolific to be a little more user-friendly than MTURK, though I think MTURK has been around for longer. Earnings would start small as the sites get to know you to find eligible studies. If you're persistent, though, it can be a nice way to earn some money on the side.

That's all I have as far as advice goes ;v; I wish you the best of luck in finding a job that can accommodate to your needs, receive disability benefits, and being able to get your husband to successfully immigrate!

[Kie]

I'm disabled and currently fighting for my life in full-time schooling , but I used to have a plethora of small side gigs. I also have a bunch of disabled friends so maybe I can pull some good suggestions from that too.

This has to be very niche, but I used to watch/babysit kids. But instead of doing the "regular" babysitting stuff I had them play Dungeons and Dragons. Parents would leave kids to me and a group of other young adults, and then we would divide them in groups of 4/5 for each of us and we would have them play DnD and other ttRPGs. Kids LOVED it. We did this in three hours sessions (from 3PM to 6PM) and at a local library, with elementary school kids and sometimes middle school kids. But nothing is stopping you from organizing these at your house or in shorter sessions, if you need.

On a similar vein, I have friends who help kids with their homework as a side gig. It's very common for uni students, don't know if it is for other demographics as well tho. I have never done it myself, but all my friends that do enjoy it, and you can even request the parents to bring the kids to your house and not vice-versa, this way it's gonna be less tirening!

And the obvious choice would be commissions! I offer both digital illustration and coding commissions, but you could adapt it to whatever creative thing you do! Depending on what your craft is, you might want to simply sell the finished products instead of offering commissions. Pottery and knitting are very popular amongst my disabled friends, and I know they make some money out of it as well!

I also second doing online research surveys like Ducky suggested!