~Strength~

Jenna Johnson will continue her job search which is five years in the making. Yes. Despite assistance from a five -member employment board working tirelessly on her behalf, Johnson hasn't found work beyond a four-hour-a-week job at Target where she restocks returned items. Johnson has cerebral palsy and as a result uses a wheelchair. She speaks with difficulty and reads at a fourth-grade level. Johnson requires 24-hour care because of the constant threat of seizures, and she can't drive. "But would-be employees overlook Johnson's potential," says Beth Behling, one of Johnson's personal care assistants, "Jenna is really smart and intuitive. But when they see that she's disabled and in a wheelchair, they think that she can't think." Her strengths include reliability, friendliness, and a steady 12-year-record at Target. As a fellow person living with a disability, I can attest to notion of being disregarded as less because I have the label of "disability". I am also a smart person, but on the same token, I am talked to like I'm stupid only because I can't talk or walk. People don't take individuals with disabilities seriously and that is really sad because out of the population we are the people who will work the hardest, care the most, and never complain about what it is we have to do. They should regard their disabilities not as limitations but as assets  because they have overcome so much and will overcome so much more.