Twitter erupted with congratulations for Justin G, a disabled man who just landed his first job ever.
Justin, known as @syndrome22q1 on Twitter, shared his "major news" on Tuesday that he will be starting his new job with Charge Across America, a TV docuseries about racing electric vehicles, where he will create social media posts to promote the show.
Justin's disability is called 22q syndrome, as his Twitter handle suggests. People with this syndrome are missing their 22nd chromosome, which can cause a slew of symptoms. For Justin, it mostly effects his learning abilities and his heart.
Justin tweeted:
"I got the Job. I am Starting Early Next week."
"I am in a loss of words and do not know what to say other then lets party."
"This is my first ever job in my whole life."
"I wont let my disability stop me."
"I wonder how many people seeing this will congratulate me!"
It turns out, over 4.5K people would congratulate him in the comments, and more than 2K would share his post.
Justin also posted a video following his announcement, encouraging those with disabilities to pursue their dreams.
He spoke passionately encouraging other disabled people:
"I do have disabilities."
"For people out there that doubt themselves, people with disabilities, if you think you can't do something because of your disability, that's wrong."
"You can do something."
"It doesn't matter if your voice is different, it doesn't matter if your heart is different, or your brain is different or you have a different body."
"It doesn't matter because you can do anything you put your mind to."
"It doesn't matter how different you really are because special needs can't control us. Only you can control you."
"Remember that."
The video now has over 23K views, which got the attention of actor Mark Hamill
Justin also shared:
"I want to share people with special needs you can a job and you can't let your disability get in the way."
"I feel so amazing the internet is celebrating my success… I felt so, so, so happy and shocked when I was getting tons of support."
"It made me more confident in myself to keep going and pushing."
In the U.S., disabled workers often have to make the choice of getting a job that may not have health benefits and adequate sick leave or staying on disability benefits. Ten million Americans living with disabilities can easily lose their government benefits if they have more than $2,000 in their bank accounts. Even then, you can only earn up to about $1,675 a month, if you have no other income.
Justin previously went viral in 2019 around Christmas. In an effort to go viral and spread the word about his illness, he asked people to wish him a Merry Christmas with the hashtag #MerryChristmasJustin.
That video caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres, and now has 2.9 million views.
Let's hope Justin's messages of encouragement and pride continues to spread across all corners of the internet.
