Area students with disabilities talk employment opportunities

ZANESVILLE, Ohio-  High school students with disabilities from all around Muskingum County gathered for an employment seminar.

The program featured previous students with disabilities who shared their stories of success with community employment.

Zeb Wood, Multiple Disability Teacher at Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center, said the success stories from previous students provided hope for job options after graduation for current students.

“The biggest thing for students with disabilities right now in high school is we’re looking at employment first. And that’s an initiative through the state of Ohio to start looking for their first options to employment once they graduate high school and to move on to different things if that’s more career training or anything like that,” said Wood.

This is the second year the Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center hosted the event. Wood said that the county has been very supportive of their cause which provides their students better opportunities.

“One thing we can say about our students with disabilities is that they’re loyal, they’re hard working, they’ve got a lot of skills,” said Wood. “We’ve got to look more at their abilities than their disabilities in the situation of employment. Through the classroom we have a lot of community experiences and they show that they’re very able to work on a daily basis.”

There was also a provider fair through the Muskingum County Board of Developmental Disability that shared extra information with the students and their families about disability services. The event took place at the OUZ/Zane State Campus Center.