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Woman who has no arms or legs wants a job rather than empathy
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Steadman Video

Woman who has no arms or legs wants a job rather than empathy

A woman who has no arms or legs is struggling in her search to find a new job.

A woman who does not have arms or legs wants a job rather than empathy after she applied for around 400 vacancies and received no offers.

WAVY reports that 48-year-old Lisa Olson spends eight hours a day, six days a week looking and applying for jobs from her home in Virgina Beach, US.

Olson has a good education behind her, with a master's degree in journalism from Regent University, where she also worked for 19 years.

The woman, who was born with the rare genetic syndrome known as Tetra-Amelia, even appeared on lifestyle programme The Hampton Roads Show some ten years ago.

But last year, Olson was made redundant from her job at Regent.

She hoped she would be back in work relatively quickly, but it hasn't exactly panned out like that.

With the rise of work-from-home posts, Olson thought that would bode well for her, especially considering her daily routine is fairly set in stone.

Lisa Olson was born with no arms or legs.
WAVY TV 10

Since beginning the job hunt, Olson has applied for around 400 jobs and has gone to some interviews.

But unfortunately, Olson has not received a single job offer.

"I have experienced quite significant rejection in these last probably 11 months. It’s been very discouraging and very disheartening," Olson told WAVY.

Olson was born with no arms and legs as it was suspected she was exposed to the drug Thalidomide, which was given to pregnant women in America in the 1950s and 1960s to treat nausea.

Due to this drug, thousands of children were born with severe deformities.

Olson's case was put to a panel of doctors who delivered quite a heartbreaking prognosis.

"The head of pediatric medicine told his staff to euthanize me," Olson said.

Olson has spent the last 11 months trying to find a job.
WAVY TV 10/ YouTube

"He believed my body would weaken and I would die of a hospital [based] infection.

"Out of all the doctors, there was one doctor, an intern in pediatric medicine, who jumped to his feet and said God had a purpose for my life and the hospital then washed their hands off me."

While filling out these job applications, Olson uses a pen tip to use the keyboard on a computer.

However, she believes that employers have learnt of her disability after completing background checks.

"So I believe my disability plays in prospective employers not hiring me," she said.

And now 11 months into her job search, Olson says that she feels unwanted.

Topics: US News, Health