by JC Campbell

Created on: August 19, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Jason is a loveable 34 year old with learning difficulties and a heart of gold. He is the kind of person who brightens up your day and who reminds that life is truly worth living. But Jason will never realize his dream to work at NASA in any capacity due to his mental age and the problems he faces as a result. His infectious personality, his kindness, his sense of humor and his good looks will never be enough to secure him the job he desires most. Instead, Jason works part-time in a grocery store with some outstanding fellow workers who make him feel wanted and valuable, a part of the team. A far cry from NASA, Jason gives his all when he is on duty at the local store, assisting customers, cleaning spillages and caring for other general matters in keeping with his ability.

Because of his mental disability, Jason is limited in what he can do in his place of work, and yet he proves that a person can be productive within society in spite of life's disadvantages. Jason's friends are only too aware that he is not employed as he would wish but are careful to always be positive and encouraging, reminding him of the sterling work he does on behalf of others. They realize it serves no useful purpose to pretend that Jason could ever fulfill his ambition to be involved in some way in the US space program. This would only lead to great disappointment for Jason and prove to be a negative experience as he slowly realized his dream would never become reality.

While some people with disabilities can comfortably cope with employment opportunities greater than others may assume, in other cases like Jason, it is not realistic. The level of competency has to be an issue within the workplace from a safety point of view if nothing else. It is helpful if those with disabilities are encouraged to seek employment within their capabilities as opposed to demanding jobs for which they are clearly not capable. This is not discrimination, but reality. It is not in the interests of the person, the prospective fellow workers or the employer to have a person working in the business who simply cannot cope due their disability. The workplace has enough stress without compounding it by giving a person a task they will find very difficult to perform.

Many employers have made provision to create circumstances that permit those with disabilities to enter the workplace on equal terms. Some have catered for those with physical disabilities such as blindness and deafness. having a disability of some kind

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