by Joy Johnson

Created on: July 31, 2009   Last Updated: August 02, 2009

So you have a disability and you want to get a job. Where do you start and how do you get the results you want? First things first. You need to determine, just like anyone else, what type of work you are interested in doing and can perform adequately. This true for everyone but is even more important for a person having a disability. The second thing you need is a map or guide to get you from where you are now to where you want to be, happily employed.

As a former Job Developer, specializing in assisting people with disabilities, the first piece of advice I want to give is that if you want to work and are willing to persevere, you can get a job. It often times requires more patience than you have ever needed before and it may be more emotionally hard to deal with rejections, so you may need to develop a little thicker skin. Also, you may require the assistance of a job developer who can work with employers that are willing to hire someone with your type of disability, or who can carve a job for you, but you can get a job.

Having two children of my own who have disabilities and who have experienced challenges with employment, I understand how slanted getting a job feels to a person who has a disability. Probably the hardest thing for my children, and for me as their parent, was dealing with the emotional and psychological aspects. We went so often between being angry, to feeling the hurt of rejection, that we didn't really know what we felt more of at the time.

Most employers are good people who want to make the best decisions for their company. But even employers who appear hesitant, who don't seem to want to give you a chance, are just people who are misinformed or who are afraid to take a risk that they aren't sure they can handle. A Job Developer can help you overcome most, if not all, resistance most employers may have in hiring a person with a disability. The few employers who truly have poor attitudes actually do you a favor. They identify themselves as people who you don't want to work with and that is a blessing because it saves your time to keep going to discover employers who would be great people for whom to work.

But how do you compete in a world where your competition are people who appear to be able bodied? Knowing some tricks of the trade, will help you with getting over the hump and on your way to a job you can perform in well. Let's start with the assumption of other people being more "able" than those who have disabilities. Some

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