One of the fun parts of becoming a parent who works in the United States is that you get to finally realize, if you did not know already, that having a child, or in my case, giving birth to a child, is considered a “disability.“ pregnancy is considered a disability status in this country, and for that, most private employers will partner with a third-party to provide short term disability payments to you while you are on family leave. That would be paid at a certain percentage of your salary, and in my case, I am lucky because my employer will top up whatever the payments are to add up to 100% of my normal salary. Some employers are cheap and they will not top up at all, and instead, you will rely on whatever percentage that third-party will give you. I believe sometimes it can be 50% or 2/3 of your usual salary. In my case, the third party is paying 2/3 of my salary to me.

I am not sure if I should be insulted to hear that pregnancy and or giving birth to a child is considered a disability in this country. If anything, it says a lot about how this country views childbirth. It is something that is not looked well upon and instead is looked at as something that actually “disables“ you. It hinders you from doing things. It prevents you from doing your usual job at regular capacity. You are no longer a functioning normal person in society. And that is absolutely just stupid. Because if any of us have any awareness of what it is like to be a parent, especially a mother, you will know  that being a parent very likely maximize is your ability to multitask, think creatively, and be able to actually get shit done. And that is not necessarily by choice. Parents are forced to do all of the above because they have no other option to function and survive.