SINCE graduating last summer, Michalina Puskarczyk estimates that she has applied for around 400 jobs. THOMAS GEORGE reports.

DESPITE her persistent efforts earning invitations for several interviews, 26-year-old Michalina Puskarczyk remains unemployed.

Suffering so many knock backs would be enough to make even the most confident jobseeker question themselves and wonder what it is they are lacking.

So, it is no surprise that the stream of rejections have left the University of Bolton graduate feeling dejected and worthless.

But, Ms Puskarczyk, who was born with cerebral palsy and has had to use an electric wheelchair since being young, has also noticed a common theme.

That her chances seem to unravel once she has informed employers of her disability.

“I have had emails saying I am a great candidate and that I have the qualifications,” she said.

“But, as soon as I mention my wheelchair and ask for reasonable adjustments to be made, people start acting weird.

“They say they will have to ring me back, but they never do.”

Ms Puskarczyk was born in Poznan, in Poland, and moved to the UK in 2008, aged 16.

She currently lives with her mother in Tonge Moor.

After studying a BTEC in business studies at Bolton College, she says she decided to undertake a degree in Community Studies in order to prove to people that she was able to work.

She wrote her dissertation on discrimination in the workplace.

Upon graduating in June 2017, she set about securing a job in an office-based setting, with her preference being either an admin or help desk role.

Only a fortnight ago, she received an invitation to attend an interview at a Bolton-based company.

But, after asking for adjustments to be made to accommodate her wheelchair, she never heard back from the company.

Three follow-up emails were also ignored.

Sadly, such situations have become the norm for Ms Puskarczyk, and have left her with a feeling of inadequacy.

“All of my classmates are now working and it is only me that isn’t,” she explained.

“It feels like whatever I do is just not good enough.

“I just want to be treated the same as other people.

“The jobs I am applying for are not out of my league. I believe I have the skills to do them.”

In the past 16 months, Ms Puskarczyk says she has been offered interviews at around 10 companies, but several have gone quiet after she informed them she was a wheelchair user.

In the past, she has volunteered at her college and university, as well as on a number of projects around the town, but says she is now ready to take the next step by embarking on a professional career.

“I do not want to work for free anymore,” she said.

“I need something to help me live. It is making me feel worthless.

“I did not choose to be disabled, I was born like this.

“At the moment, I am just stuck at home all the time.

“People look at me and only notice my wheelchair, not me.

“It seems to make people scared because they have expectations of people who are in a wheelchair.

“I just want to help people and lose the stigma that disabled people cannot do anything, and that the country will look after me. That is not true.

“I want to be noticed and appreciated for my work and who I am.

“My wheelchair should not make me unemployable.”

Ms Puskarczyk has also become frustrated at not receiving feedback from prospective employers who have turned her down, and even believes her surname could be compounding her difficulties.

For now, she is living off  disability living allowance she receives each month, but that is not enough to look after both her and her mother.

She added: “I want to be able to earn money, so that I can enjoy my life and go and do things.

“I cannot change my circumstances, but I just want people to look beyond my wheelchair. It does not define me.”