It was during the real estate bubble in the mid-2000s that Melissa Bogolubov and her husband decided to buy a house. Rent prices in Spokane, Wash., where they lived, were outpacing her disability checks. They really wanted something of their own. They found a tiny converted garage, about 700 square feet. They got a subprime loan.
Because of the way the loan was structured, she said, there was a good chance they would never fully own the house. And they didn’t really have enough income to take care of it. They made a few minor improvements, but that just increased the assessed value when property tax time came around.
She was working at a deli a few hours a week, cleaning tables and restocking.
“It was an incredibly part-time job,” she said, “because I’m on the autism spectrum. My boss made fun of the way my mind worked. I couldn’t get enough hours to save my home.”
In their 15 years of marriage, Melissa and her husband have been homeless three times. This loss was by far the hardest.
Homeless, they moved to Portland in 2008. They stayed in a makeshift shelter in Forest Grove. Her husband scraped together grants and found a program for legally disabled people to get training or college. He got a four-year college degree. They got on a wait list for affordable housing. He now works in information technology, and they have an apartment, which they never take for granted.
“But he’s still temporary enough,” she said, “that no matter how talented he is, we worry every single day about our future. Today’s workplace is geared toward project-based work. Most everybody has to change their job every six months to two years. And if there’s one thing that people with Asperger’s hate more than anything else, it’s change.”
If she could change anything about the modern work world, Melissa said, it would be to create accommodation for the many different ways that people think and work.
“I’m not able to work in the normal way,” she said. “From my perspective, this is a really, really, really fast-paced world. Everyone is going too fast.”
With Street Roots, Melissa can have a job that accommodates her style. She’s been a Street Roots vendor for more than 10 years.
At her posts near the Multnomah County Public Library on Southwest 10th Avenue or the New Seasons at Southeast Division Street and Southeast 20th Avenue, Melissa likes to mix it up, alternating Tai Chi forms with selling the paper. She’s had a love affair with martial arts since she was 8 years old.
It was also at a young age that Melissa started exploring religions and spirituality. Raised a fundamentalist Christian, she wasn’t satisfied.
“I always wanted a deeper spirituality than the adults around me were comfortable with,” she said.
After years of questions and struggles with her religion, Melissa finally turned to Taoism. With Taoism, she said, “the sole responsibility for your spirituality lies with you, and that actually sets you free.”
She meditates daily now and posts challenges on Facebook to her Taoist community — 100 days of meditation, pursuit of standing meditation. Her last challenge had 28 members, from as far away as the United Kingdom. This spring or summer, Melissa plans to offer Tai Chi classes, probably in a park or public space, on a donation basis.
“I’ve had my abilities unlocked,” she said. “I’m committed to a lifetime of discovering my underlying abilities and helping other people unlock theirs.
A lifelong learner, Melissa is almost afraid to not keep looking. “I don’t want to get into stagnation,” she said. “Life is all about exploring.”