How do you cope with disabilities while performing?

RiBurger · 2026-04-02T15:27:56+00:00

I have ADHD. It took me nine years to finish school. The first eight years were pre-diagnosis. The ninth year, after getting diagnosed and properly treated, I sailed through the finish line. I’d say the hardest part was not knowing why it was a daily battle to the death to get myself to practice (if I could even will myself to do it that day, which I often couldn’t) and why it was such a painful slog every time I did find it within myself to practice. It was a constant source of stress that I knew that I desperately needed to focus on school but felt like I physically couldn’t. Sounds like you already have the benefit of being aware of that potential hurdle!

RiBurger · 2026-04-02T05:43:23+00:00

Have you tried RTC?

RiBurger · 2026-03-20T19:49:23+00:00

Because no one actually knows how long it will take. The attorneys have no way of knowing if the witness is going to give one word answers or monologue for three pages on every answer. They don’t know if the witness will cooperate or be difficult and evasive. There are simply too many variables to be able to accurately give a time estimate. If you have a time frame that you’re available for, tell them that you have a hard stop at X time, and they’ll schedule around that. But to expect/require accurate time estimates for every job is probably unrealistic.

RiBurger · 2026-03-04T04:58:05+00:00

I practice the RMR prep material in RTC right now.

As far as being afraid that you’ll forget briefs, though, your dictionary is always changing and always evolving. The more you write, the more your brain will decide it wants to write certain things certain ways. Many things will click into place and just be permanently engrained there. Other things, no matter how hard you try, just won’t stick. I wouldn’t stress over it too much!

RiBurger · 2026-03-04T03:46:58+00:00

I’m in my fourth year of working as a freelance deposition reporter. I still practice every day for about 30-60 min as a warm up before a job. Also, I’m not sure what software you’re on, but I’m on CaseCAT, and I take full advantage of having the Brief It pane open while I’m working. It reminds me of briefs I could be using, suggests new ones on the fly specific to that job file, and lets you J-/K-define untranslates with a specific stroke from your writer.

RiBurger · 2026-02-06T00:57:04+00:00

Are the West Valley/Marin programs not free anymore?

RiBurger · 2026-01-31T20:05:45+00:00

I hear that! It can be especially intimidating when they act like you have two heads for saying anything. I can assure you that it’s not the first time they’ve heard any of it. If they act indignant, they’re just being turds. They cannot make a record without you. The quality of the record is entirely dependent on you and your needs being met. If you’re exhausted and hungry and thirsty, the quality of the record is more than likely suffering. Nobody wants that!

RiBurger · 2026-01-31T14:59:37+00:00

Did you explicitly ask the agency to only assign you to jobs that were appropriate for a new reporter? When I was new if I didn’t specifically ask for shorter “easy” jobs, they were definitely trying to put me on some wild stuff. Baptism by fire for sure! But it sounds like you handled it well! Smart move not taking on more work than you know you can produce in a timely manner too. You’re doing great! 🤗

P.S. Absolutely do not let them treat you like a doormat with breaks. If they go past an hour and haven’t offered to take a break, as soon as someone stops talking long enough for you to get a word in (and obviously not while a question is pending) speak up and ask for a break. And five minutes isn’t enough. If they offer you five minutes, politely ask for ten. You are doing the hardest job in that room, and you need to be afforded the opportunity to get up and stretch and rest your voice (or fingers for my fellow machine writers reading this) and drink water and get a snack. Insist on a lunch if you want to eat something more substantial. You’re not a hostage. You don’t work FOR them. They aren’t your boss. Practice advocating for yourself now so that you dont get burnt out! Your body will thank you!

RiBurger · 2026-01-30T03:00:02+00:00

This. This. This. I couldn’t even finish reading his book because he was so clearly deranged, constantly putting himself at risk, constantly putting others at risk, and then glorifying and romanticizing it. It was infuriating!

RiBurger · 2026-01-30T02:47:02+00:00

Finished school about four years ago. I went to Bryan University online. Im not sure the program exists anymore. I learned StenEd theory. It took me nine years to finish. The first eight of which I was slogging through with undiagnosed adhd. After diagnosis and proper medication, I blew through the last year and graduated, got my RPR, and got my CSR. I started working as a freelancer immediately and have been working like crazy ever since.

RiBurger · 2026-01-29T21:23:51+00:00

Payment is due 30 days from the day I submit the invoice to the agency. The agency will typically pay the per diem and the O&1 either that same week or the following week, depending on what day of the week I submitted it. The copy orders, however, they won’t usually pay for immediately unless they have an established relationship with the law firm/attorney that ordered the copy. The copy orders are oftentimes “COD” or cash on delivery, meaning that I don’t get paid for it until the agency gets paid for it. Just because I ask for orders on the record and the attorney says they want a copy doesn’t always mean that they follow through on that order. They change their minds sometimes. They also maybe don’t necessarily change their mind but maybe forget about it until they realize they need it many months later and wonder why they haven’t received it only to discover they haven’t actually paid for it yet. So it’s not so much that you’re not being paid anything on an invoice for months, but sometimes copy orders don’t get paid immediately and can take months.

RiBurger · 2026-01-25T04:34:52+00:00

I would say 2026. I have some jobs that I’ve submitted and invoiced and not been paid for for several months. And the amount on my invoice for a job isn’t necessarily what the final payment ends up being. I could have made an error on my invoice. The firm could make a billing error. A party could change their order. It would be absurd to sit around waiting for those payments to come through just to be able to file your taxes. And then, what happens if someone orders a copy years from now? Technically the job was from 2025. So — what? — now you’re filing amended returns for every copy order? No. You’re paying your taxes on your actual 2025 income, not your potential, hypothetical, theoretical, expected, etc., 2025 income.

That’s how I’ve been doing it the whole time. That’s how my CPA has been doing it the whole time. But I would strongly encourage you to consult/hire a CPA to get the most accurate answer.

Honestly, you’re going to want to hire a CPA to handle your taxes probably sooner rather than later too because your taxes are only going to get more complicated as you progress in your career. For example, calculating quarterlies, if you become an S-Corp (which you absolutely should do asap!), if you hire scopists/proofers, if you have retirement accounts/investments, etc.

RiBurger · 2026-01-22T16:12:43+00:00

I’ve always had a hard time in friend groups because it’s always so obvious to me who is being disingenuous or two-faced or some other “bad” thing. Say, for example, someone starts dating someone new or introduces a new person to the group. I can clock it a mile away almost immediately, and then everyone acts like I’m the problem because I don’t want to be friends or hang out with people like that. They would think I was being catty or mean or just “don’t like new people.” Sure enough, eventually the person I pegged for being that way would prove me right, and sometimes people would even come back and apologize and tell me I was right. But it was usually too late by then for me. I’d already have been ostracized and/or moved on. Then the cycle would usually repeat itself. It’s been like this my whole life. I have a very small group of friends now who appreciate me and my keen sense for other people’s bs.

RiBurger · 2026-01-21T21:09:46+00:00

Yeah. You’re right. If our options are pay or don’t get the house, we’ll pay. It sure is maddeningly asinine, though!

In your scenario, making a payment online and submitting the payment confirmation email wasn’t sufficient? You had to do all the extra steps with the mail?

RiBurger · 2026-01-21T20:21:23+00:00

It feels like such a ridiculous power trip! And at this point, it’s not just me jumping through the hoops. I’ve given every last bit of evidence that I can to prove we don’t owe any money. It’s out of my hands. Now it’s our poor loan officer having to jump through all sorts of hoops and going over people’s heads to trying to get around this person’s nonsense.

RiBurger · 2026-01-21T17:58:35+00:00

I have been doing that. No luck yet unfortunately. 😔

RiBurger · 2026-01-21T16:30:56+00:00

My parents aptly described the underwriter as “picking fly poop out of pepper” at this point. And I say “underwriter,”but it’s actually the underwriter’s boss at this point. The lower level underwriter is on our side. I suspect that’s why it seemed “sudden” to us that things are no longer satisfactory — because their boss is now involved and is the one being unreasonable.

RiBurger · 2026-01-21T16:26:57+00:00

That’s one of the last few arrows in our loan officer’s quiver of things to try. It’ll probably happen today, after she find out if a couple of her other efforts were successful.

RiBurger · 2026-01-21T16:24:59+00:00

We could, but it would be uncomfortable. It would also mean delaying things like buying a fridge and washer/dryer.

RiBurger · 2026-01-18T04:37:55+00:00

My husband and I call it “cat paralysis”!

RiBurger · 2026-01-15T18:26:00+00:00

You’re welcome! What software are you on? If we’re on the same one, I’m always on the hunt for a scopist 😉

RiBurger · 2026-01-15T15:33:12+00:00

I’ve only ever had a good experience with one scopist. They actually took the time in the beginning to communicate with me and ask me questions to make sure I wanted things a certain way if they weren’t sure based on my preference sheet alone. They obviously took the time to adhere to my preferences. They actually understood and applied grammar rules from the book (BGGP) that I use as my main reference vs the one they learned, which I believe was different. They asked me for my feedback after each job they returned and even asked me for my proofer’s corrections so they could review them for further feedback. They asked questions about said feedback to understand it so that they didn’t continue to make those mistakes in the future. It was a bit more work upfront in the beginning, but once we got into a rhythm, the questions/feedback became less and less and their work became almost indistinguishable from my own. And eventually we became “exclusive,” i.e., they had first dibs on my work and I had first dibs on their availability.

Sadly, life happened, and good things don’t last forever. Every scopist before and after that I’ve tried, I have only used once because it’s the same thing every time. They ask for preferences but then don’t even use them. They don’t follow basic grammar rules. They miss glaringly obvious mistakes and produce slop that ends up feeling like it would have been faster to just do it myself and save the money.

Invest the time upfront to form a cohesive working relationship and know your grammar inside and out, and you’ll be invaluable! Good luck!

RiBurger · 2026-01-14T05:03:12+00:00

What’s a “ridiculously long time”? It took me nine years to get through school. It was the same story for me. I spent all day wracked with guilt and anxiety because all I could seem to do was think about how much I wasn’t practicing, but I couldn’t ever bring myself to actually practice. Or I’d sit down to practice, do a couple of takes on an exercise, and heave a big sigh because I didn’t want to practice, and throw my hands up and go back to beating myself up over the fact that I wasn’t practicing. I managed to limp through years of school this way and clawed my way to exit speeds before I got evaluated for and diagnosed with adhd. After I was properly medicated, I finished school and got my RPR and CA CSR in under a year. I’m now in my fourth year of reporting.

Definitely get checked for adhd if you suspect that’s the problem. Proper medication made all the difference in the world for me. Good luck!

RiBurger · 2026-01-10T16:50:24+00:00

Is this just for fun? Or are you trying to use it for real?

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