HAYDEN — Most employees simply walk into their workplace each day and do their jobs. For Ms. Wheelchair Idaho 2022, Jessica Bellefeuille, accomplishing that requires a few accommodations.

Newly crowned March 6, Bellefeuille is using her platform to shine a much-needed spotlight on the need for workplace advocacy and accommodation for those living, and working, with a handicap.

“Because most people don’t have a voice. When they see somebody standing up, metaphorically in my case, they’re inspired to do something themselves,” Bellefeuille said. “That’s what I’ve been taught. If you see something and you want to change it, you stand out, and you change it.”

An industrious 21 year old, Bellefeuille says she has experienced years of workplace discrimination.

Bellefeuille lives with a neurological condition called paroxysmal dyskinesia, an “episodic movement disorder in which abnormal movements are only present during attacks.” She was also born 10 weeks prematurely with cerebral palsy that has caused weakness in her entire left side, she said.

Bellefeuille is ambulatory, but uses her wheelchair for safety and stability. A full time barista at the Village Bakery, she also studies journalism at North Idaho College.

In past work positions, Bellefeuille has been told it was her fault she had a disability. Employers have been unwilling to make accommodations so she could work from her wheelchair, she said Tuesday during an interview with The Press.

In terms of accessing public buildings, Bellefeuille has experienced construction workers that were unwilling to move their tools to allow her passage, and elevators that were not regularly maintained, sometimes preventing her from getting where she needed to go.

Bellefeuille is poised to change that. Although ADA laws were nationally signed into effect in 1992, accommodation requirements are not always adhered to or easy to access.

“That’s my forum. To talk with businesses, business owners, employers, employees, about what it truly means to introduce a wheelchair into the workplace,” Bellefeuille said. “Because that’s not something you see very often.”

Businesses don’t realize how important making accommodations is, Bellefeuille said. People have skills that shouldn’t be overlooked because of their handicaps.

“I want to stress that. It is so important for life skills. If you have a veteran that becomes paralyzed and comes home from war, what’s he going to do?” Bellefeuille said. “He has the skills from the military. But how can he apply them? How can businesses say yes, finally to people that are in wheelchairs?”

Bellefuillle’s parents, Dana and Todd, the owners of the Village Bakery in Hayden have set a stellar example, being a workplace that accommodates handicaps and special needs of many kinds. Employing about 40 people, the Bellefeuille family gives everyone who wants to work, a chance to shine.

“I feel heard here. I don’t have to ask to be heard here,” Bellefeuille said. “There’s an understanding when you walk through those doors - if you’re having a bad pain day, work as long as you can and we’ll make accommodations from there.”

Quite often, ADA compliance doesn't equal ADA convenience, Bellefeuille said. For example, the pathway through a park may be ADA compliant, but that doesn’t mean that children with a handicap can access the play equipment.

“Just because we fought for our rights in the 90’s as a people group, doesn’t mean we’re done fighting,” Bellefeuille said. “When are we going to start treating people like people? When are we going to see continual progress?”

Bellefeuille plans to compete on the national level for Ms. Wheelchair America this August in Michigan. Businesses compelled to work with Ms. Bellefeuille on promoting workplace accommodations or to sponsor her as she continues her service as Ms. Wheelchair Idaho, may reach her directly at [email protected].