{"id":155501,"date":"2025-08-18T10:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T10:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/155501\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T10:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T10:42:09","slug":"philadelphia-disability-advocate-among-federal-workforce-layoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/155501\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia disability advocate among federal workforce layoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Tourette syndrome tics and challenges<\/p>\n<p>When Fishbein was little and growing up in Philadelphia, his mother, Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein, said he would hide under desks at preschool or have sudden outbursts. His teachers recommended that he get tested for developmental and behavioral conditions.\n<\/p>\n<p>It took many doctors to arrive at a diagnosis of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/tourette-syndrome\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20350465\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tourette syndrome<\/a>, which is a lifelong neurological disorder that often involves uncontrolled repetitive movements or unwanted sounds and verbal outbursts, known as tics or tic attacks.\n<\/p>\n<p>With a diagnosis in hand, Fishbein was able to get accommodations at school. Federal laws require schools to provide education services to students with disabilities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes, it looked like extended time on tests or a separate room for testing so I could focus better and tic,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes it meant being able to take a break because I needed to tic.\u201d\n  <\/p>\n<p>He also became a Tourette syndrome youth ambassador and spent time visiting other schools, churches and other places in the community to educate people about the disorder and dispel common stereotypes and misconceptions.\n<\/p>\n<p>But as Fishbein got older and approached adulthood, Rachel and her husband, Joel Fishbein, said they still worried about what options their son would have when it came to higher education, eventual career prospects and his long-term independence.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were times when we didn\u2019t know what his future would look like, and that was really scary,\u201d Rachel said. \u201cWe had family support and we were able to get him what he needed, but you think, that\u2019s not the way this might have ended up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what made Fishbein\u2019s acceptance and eventual graduation from American University especially sweet, they said, as they saw their son overcome challenges, continue his advocacy work through college and really thrive.\n<\/p>\n<p>Their pride grew as Fishbein began working as a federal disability policy advisor, volunteering in his community at a dog rescue and as a youth soccer coach, joining an a capella group and starting a relationship with his girlfriend.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would say to Joel and I, \u2018I can\u2019t believe this is my life. I just can\u2019t believe the life I have, I\u2019m so happy. I never thought my life would look like this,\u2019\u201d Rachel said.\n        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tourette syndrome tics and challenges When Fishbein was little and growing up in Philadelphia, his mother, Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,90754,17176,420,90755,77435,49738,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-155501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-doge-cuts","10":"tag-federal-employees","11":"tag-jobs","12":"tag-tourettes-syndrome","13":"tag-trump-cuts","14":"tag-trump-impact","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115049355220360522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}