National Disability Employment Awareness Month: Inequities in Employment of Disabled People & Creating a Disability Inclusive Workplace
By: Anitra Schulte and Katie Carr
Inequities in Employment of Disabled People
When it comes to employment, the disparity between disabled employees who were segregated in school, disabled employees who experienced inclusive learning opportunities, and nondisabled employees is stark and telling.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics, only 21.3% of disabled people were employed in 2022, compared to 65.4% of nondisabled people. Relatedly, unemployment rates for people with a disability (7.6%) were more than double the rates of unemployment for nondisabled people (3.5%).
Every facet of employment - from hiring and workplace opportunities to benefits - presents systemic barriers for disabled workers. These barriers extend to all corners of our society. For example, employment puts government benefits, like social security and Medicare, at risk because in order to qualify, disabled individuals may not have more than $2,000 in savings, systemically keeping disabled folks in poverty.
Again and again, the employment sector asks disabled people to make impossible choices between their needed care, inclusion in society, benefits, and their financial security – reflecting that labor in America prioritizes the nondisabled worker.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability, and employers are required to make reasonable accommodations. Yet, despite the law, the definition of “reasonable” is consistently argued for the wellbeing of businesses and not for the wellbeing of disabled candidates, allowing barriers to persist.
Barriers in the workplace include but are not limited to
Discrimination in hiring, advancement, and discharge
Judgment, infantilization, exclusion, and harassment
Lack of accommodations and understanding from coworkers
Subminimum wages and an overall wage gap
Some disabilities are nonapparent, and therefore many people with disabilities must decide if, when, and to whom they want to disclose their disability. According to the Harvard Business Review, the Center for Talent Innovation’s “Disabilities and Inclusion” study discovered that “30% of the professional workforce fits the current federal definition of having a disability — and the majority are keeping that status a secret. Only 39% of employees with disabilities have disclosed to their manager. Even fewer have disclosed to their teams (24%) and HR (21%). Almost none (4%) have revealed their disability to clients.”
When nondisabled employees have previously been in shared spaces — learning or otherwise — with disabled individuals, they can more readily embrace their colleagues, and collectively work to eliminate barriers.
Creating a Disability Inclusive Workplace
While the barriers to employment are numerous, there are ways to make your company more inclusive to those with disabilities. Here are ways that you can support disabled employees and colleagues in your company:
Provide diversity and inclusion training throughout the year to all employees. It’s estimated that over 25% of the world’s population is disabled, yet disability isn’t discussed in many conversations surrounding diversity. Anyone can be disabled at any point in time. Disability is a form of human diversity that can intersect with all other forms of identity and needs to be a part of these discussions. Training allows companies to learn the language needed to talk about disability, how to make their space more accessible, and how to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging. It is always best to purchase these professional development and training opportunities from disabled professionals in the field.
Hire disabled people, especially in leadership and consulting. We all know that representation matters. But representation is more than seeing a disabled person in a tv show or book, representation in our real lives are just as (if not more) important. Research shows that “when employees with disabilities have role models at the leadership level who have disclosed their own disabilities, they are more likely to have higher career aspirations and are more likely to be open about their disability.” Additionally, companies should hire disabled Human Relations professionals and accessibility consultants to assess the implicit biases and barriers in the workplace. Accessibility assessments should include everything from the hiring process, to the web design, to the physical office space. As with training, it’s important that this work be done with disabled professionals and disability owned agencies.
Use Universal Design in your physical and virtual spaces, as well as in workplace culture, procedures, and policies. Universal Design is when spaces, products, policies, and practices are intentionally created to be accessible, beneficial, and easily used by everyone, including disabled people. Universal Design creates a more accessible and inclusive environment that can reduce or eliminate the need for individual accommodations, because everyone’s needs are inherently addressed.
For example, flexible schedules and the option of working remotely benefit many people, including disabled people, parents, family care providers, and more. Flexible schedules allow disabled people to continue working through symptom flare ups or on days that they have doctors appointments. Flexible schedules also benefit parents that need to pick up their kids from school, employees that have personal or family emergencies, and employees who get sick. Another example of universal design is using headings and searchable pdfs. These features allow people who are blind or have visual impairments to read and navigate a document using a screen reader, but they also allow anyone to highlight, copy, and search within a document.
When it comes to employment of disabled people, there is a lot of work to be done - more work than can be done in just the 31 days of National Disability Employment Awareness Month — and it all starts with learning about and honoring each other, at a young age. Companies need to make true commitments to accessibility and inclusion, while seeking out, heeding, advocating for, and respecting disabled employees. Making the changes needed requires intensive reflection, plans of action, and commitment to change, with support from experts from disabled communities.
How will you address the barriers noted in this post? How will you aspire to be an ally? What will you do in the remaining 334 days of the year?
Works Cited
“Employment–Population Ratio for People with a Disability Increases to 21.3 Percent in 2022.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23 Feb. 2023, www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/employment-population-ratio-for-people-with-a-disability-increases-to-21-3-percent-in-2022.htm.
Henneborn, Laurie. “Make It Safe for Employees to Disclose Their Disabilities.” Harvard Business Review, Ascend, 13 Sept. 2021, hbr.org/2021/06/make-it-safe-for-employees-to-disclose-their-disabilities?ab=at_art_art_1x4_s02.
Jain-Link , Pooja, and Julia Taylor Kennedy. “Why People Hide Their Disabilities at Work.” Harvard Business Review, Ascend, 13 Sept. 2021, hbr.org/2019/06/why-people-hide-their-disabilities-at-work.
About the Authors
Katie Carr (she/her) is an autistic woman with a passion for accessibility and utilizing online spaces for advocacy. She joined TNP as the Brand & Communications Manager after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Public and Professional Writing.
Anitra Rowe Schulte (she/her) is The Nora Project’s Director of Marketing and Communications and comes to TNP with more than 20 years of experience creating strategies and telling brand stories. Anitra, who also is a children’s book author, believes in the power of words and stories to connect people to each other.
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