Johnie Hjelm

For 22-year-old Johnie, the line between work and leisure tends to blur. Along with his full-time job as a web developer, Johnie also has his own business where he sells more affordable wheelchair ramps to smaller organisations and companies. He has been an entrepreneur since high school, working with web solutions together with a friend. Johnie is also very interested in sports and plays a form of floor ball for people in wheelchairs twice a week.

Johnie has spinal muscular atrophy, which leads to muscle wasting and mobility impairment. It was discovered when he was two. To Johnie, it’s important to be both open and driven in order to get past what biases there might be in society. He thinks Sweden has come pretty far regarding accessibility, and that existing laws are a good starting point to build from.

He is close to his family and says he’s ‘always had a good mix between friends who walk and those who use a wheelchair to get around.’