Found a normal job despite handicap
Created: 10/01/2022, 12:00 p.m
By: Bernd Heinzinger
With the Oberdinger Netto team: Marco Kühnel (2nd from left) and his colleagues Grit Altermann, Jaqueline Mosebach and Dominik Steidl (from left).
Various internships completed Salary enables independence © Bernd Heinzinger
He suffers from cerebral palsy, but doesn't give up: Marco Kühnel (21) wants to encourage people with disabilities with his story.
Schwaig
– The story of 21-year-old Marco Kühnel from Schwaig shows how you can achieve a lot with unrestrained ambition even under difficult conditions.
The young man has suffered from infantile cerebral palsy since birth, which means that, among other things, his gait is significantly restricted.
But Kühnel does not give up and is now proud to have found a job in Oberdinger Netto.
And he wants to encourage other people with disabilities.
A few years ago, Kühnel came to the vocational training department of the ICP Foundation in Munich, and his future path seemed clear, says his mother Rita Kühnel: "Marco was then entitled to a place in a workshop for people with disabilities." But the son wanted to more, prove yourself in your first career path and find a job.
Together with his mother, he set out on the rocky path.
Marco Kühnel wrote to a few companies or telephoned them and was accepted for internships – including in a workshop for orthopedic technology, a bicycle shop, a carpenter's shop or a car repair shop.
Most recently, his path led to the Netto Marken-Discount in Oberding, and after four weeks the branch management was so satisfied with him that he was offered a permanent position.
The happy, open-minded and quite self-confident young man had achieved his goal.
The 21-year-old also wants to encourage other disabled people to become active themselves when looking for work: "Don't be afraid to ask people," he says.
Most of the companies give the opportunity to try it with them.
“Be confident and take your chances.
I'm very happy that I took my professional future into my own hands," says Marco Kühnel.
His mother can still remember well when her son got the job: "Afterwards he was super proud to have done it.
Marco likes to socialize and has found a great job there.”
The fact that he has walking restrictions doesn't bother anyone on the net.
Except for the cash register, he takes over all sales activities.
“This is how he earns his own money.
In a workshop for people with disabilities it would only have been around 220 euros a month, but on the job market it is of course significantly more," emphasizes the mother.
This means that your son can finance his life independently.
"I'm very proud of my son that he did so well in the internship," praised his mother.
The young Schwaiger came home after the acceptance with a big smile, he was really happy.
It was also a hard struggle to reach his big goal because people with disabilities are still pigeonholed today: “We were dealing with a few of them.
Fortunately, after our rocky path, we were able to convince them of the opposite,” says Marcos Mama.
The two also thank the ICP Munich Foundation, where the young Erdinger was supported, but also challenged.
His mother explains that children and young people with various disabilities take part in classes and practical activities there: “Some people say they could do vocational training one day.
For others that they are unable to do so.
Marco was one of the latter.”
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