Schwa sound?

Well I know there's supposed to be a schwa /@/ sound, but at least in my
dialect of english I can't distinguish this as a separate sound. The schwa
seems to always be one of the following:

a /V/ sound (about, pencil)
merged with r as a /3/ sound (winner)
elided (button /bVtn=/)

How do you consider the schwa as a separate sound?

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