Disability Law & Policy News

Employment for People with Disabilities

in the United States Remains Dismal

Although employment is a right guaranteed by the UN CRPD and is a building block for inclusion, income, access to resources, health and freedom, it remains an out-of-reach goal for the majority of people with significant disabilities around the world. And, it has not improved since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the US twenty years ago. The US National Council on Disability revealed that the difference in labor market activity rate between those employed with no disabilities versus those with disabilities is large at 57.4% in 2009 and has grown significantly since the passage of the ADA. This report can be found here. Similarly, a 2010 Kessler Foundation/National Organization on Disability study surveyed over 2,000 people with disabilities and no disability across the US. Findings revealed that employment still remains the largest gap between the two groups. A copy of this report can be found here.


* Supported Employment - individualized supervision on the job according to the individual’s abilities. A preferred option is on-the-job assistance and role modeling by peers, supervisors and colleagues, thus there is no differential treatment based on disability. Traditional formal support can be offered as well by state and federally funded job coaches who provide assistance and training to workers with disabilities on the job.


* Customized Employment –  the employer focuses on the discrete contributions of the individual in      relation to the employer’s specific needs and crafts a position accordingly. This option leads to competitive employment, but provides an advantage to job seekers who struggle in the competitive job seeking process.