Employment, Business and Work

International News

How disability self-ID can transform businesses: “Empowering employees to self-identify as having a disability paves the way for transformative change” (Mar, World Economic Forum)

Disability at sea Could owners and crewing agencies do more to support less able seafarers? Discussion of medical examinations for seafarers. (The Mission to Seafarers)

Workplace Wellness Programs Have Little Benefit, Study Finds

“The study, published this month in Industrial Relations Journal, considered the outcomes of 90 different interventions and found a single notable exception: Workers who were given the opportunity to do charity or volunteer work did seem to have improved well-being.” (Jan, NYT)

Businesses leading the way on disability inclusion a handbook compiling corporate good practices. (2023, Global Business and Disability Network)

Using AI to support people with disability in the labour market “Building on interviews with more than 70 stakeholders, this report explores the potential of AI to foster employment for people with disability, accounting for both the transformative possibilities of AI-powered solutions and the risks attached to the increased use of AI for people with disability.” (2023, OECD) See discussion on the Debrief.

'Disability and Labour in the Twentieth Century: Historical and Comparative Perspectives' a book review:

“In the epilogue, Monika Baar explains that the ideological divide that existed between socialist Eastern European and democratic Western countries in the postwar period was less structure forming than often assumed and that the different welfare state regimes had provoked similar development trajectories on the poor employment situation for people with disabilities” (2023, H-Disability)

Mental Health and Wellbeing at Work Policy Review (2023, International Organisation of Employers)

The Why and How of National Business and Disability Networks they “can provide non-judgmental and encouraging employers-led platforms at country level. At the end of 2023 [there are] some forty NBDNs.” (Link to pdf, 2023, International Labour Organization)

Working from home has worked for people with disability. The back-to-the-office push could wind back gains. (2023, The Conversation)

Why disability-inclusive employment benefits all of us blog discussing programming promoting inclusive employment. (2023, Sightsavers)

Disability as a Source of Competitive Advantage “Employees consistently told us that working with disabled people fostered a more collaborative culture. ” (2023, Harvard Business Review)

Your Workforce Includes People with Disabilities. Does Your People Strategy? “Most organizations report that their workforce includes relatively few employees with disabilities: just 4% to 7% on average. But in our survey of nearly 28,000 employees in 16 countries, some 25% of people said they have a disability or health condition that limits a major life activity.” (2023, BCG)

The right to work versus the right to retire “Ageism is still pushing older workers out of the labor market” - a report exploring international trends in older persons work and retirement. (2023, Allianz)

Evidence Brief on what are the strategies or models that support youth with disabilities to enter into employment? (2023, Disability Evidence Portal)

ESG and Disability Data white paper a call for inclusive reporting and standardized disability inclusion key performance indicators for businesses. (2023, Valuable 500) See also a blog on why it's needed.

World's Largest Clothing Retailer To Double Its Disability Employment Inditex, the owner of Zara “is committing to dramatically increase employment of people with disabilities throughout its operations.” (2023, Disability Scoop)

Lost in Translation: A global guide to the language of disability: “seeking to apply a single set of language guidelines across a global organisation is often not the best approach. Instead, recognise cultural and linguistic differences and use the language that your audience speaks – whilst seeking to empower the disabled people you work with and serve.” (2022, BDF)

Creating an inclusive culture actions taken by Valuable 500 members for a more inclusive business culture. (2022, Valuable 500)

How can we include people with intellectual disabilities at work? (2022, Sightsavers)

Livelihood support for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities: findings from a scoping review and stakeholder survey. (2022, Disability and Rehabilitation)

Increasing Employment and Quality of Employment Among Youth with Disabilities. Evidence and good practice paper. (2022, DEEP / USAID)

Disability Inclusion in Employment Intensive Investment Programming a stocktaking and way forward on inclusion in public works initiatives. By yours truly. (2022, ILO)

Capacity to Contribute: We must do more to improve the labour market inclusion of people with disability. (2022, The OECD Forum Network)

Note on ensuring that people with disabilities are not bullied at places of work. (2022, Disability Evidence Portal)

The right of persons with disabilities to work and employment General comment by the UN Committee, clarifying what governments need to do to realize the right to work. (2022) See also a summary from European Disability Forum.

Lessons learned on improving access to employment from Kenya and Bangladesh and the i2i project. (2022, CBM UK)

A policy brief on Making Digital Skills Initiatives Inclusive of Young Persons with Disabilities. (2022, Decent Jobs for Youth)

Global Trends Report featuring Technological Innovation for Disability Inclusion. (link to pdf, 2022, Valuable 500)

Achieving disability inclusive employment – Are the current approaches deep enough? A detailed critique of recent programming in international development asking interventions to go deeper:

“Thus, shallow approaches, which do not address deep-seated cultural beliefs and assumptions about disability and disabled people (which are pervasive throughout the ecosystem), are likely to perpetuate the existence of opportunities for the already more privileged elite and further disadvantage the rest.” (2022, Journal of International Development)

Mainstreaming disability inclusive employment in international development: “a key message is that instrumental types of intervention such as policy and practice guidelines, provision of assistive devices and soft skills training for jobseekers with disabilities are necessary but not sufficient to bring about wholesale change towards disability inclusive employment.” (2022, Journal of International Development)

This year's Harkin Summit was held in Belfast (2022, BBC)

New ILO database highlights labour market challenges of persons with disabilities. From 60 countries with available data:

“The labour force participation rate of people with disabilities is very low. Globally, seven in ten persons with disabilities are inactive (that is, neither in employment nor unemployed), compared with four in ten persons without disabilities. While the inactivity rate is higher for both women and men with disabilities than for those without, it is particularly high among women with disabilities.” (2022, ILO)

Equalising access to the labor market for persons with disabilities based on a project in Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria. The report makes important points on how initiatives to support employment can have negative effects:

“Too often, employment of persons with disabilities has been approached through a narrow lens of placing people into jobs, without securing preconditions for inclusive employment such as inclusive workplace culture, provision of reasonable accommodation, and accessible transportation to work. Worse, persons with disabilities have often been supported to access only a limited range of jobs based on prevailing stereotypes, usually low-wage and perceived low-skill roles, thereby perpetuating stigma and prejudice about what persons with disabilities can or cannot do. This is particularly the case for most marginalized groups, such as persons with intellectual disabilities.”

It also questions the emphasis on the ”business case” when advocating with employers, and argues for a “critical consciousness on disability amongst employers”:

“The business case approach to promote inclusive employment must be rooted in human rights and social justice to ensure that a for-profit argument does not lead to further exclusion of those with high risks of marginalization. Employers need to recognize past and present marginalization and discrimination of persons with disabilities and take active responsibility to transform the labor market to become open, accessible and inclusive for persons with disabilities.” (2022, IDA)

“This programme is nation-building” reflections at the ending of a disability-inclusive employment programme in Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh and Uganda. (2022, Inclusive Futures)

A review of effectiveness of interventions for improving livelihood outcomes for people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries. The review finds studies reporting “positive impacts on livelihood impacts” but given the limited evidence it is hard to conclude about what works. This study calls for more studies. (2022, Campbell Systematic Reviews)

An Inclusive Workplaces Toolkit which gives guidance for employers how to make their workplaces inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities. “Creating a workplace that is more inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities primarily requires small tweaks and behaviour changes within a workplace that
make it easier for everyone to understand and be included in work.” (2022, Inclusion International)

Barriers to employment for people with intellectual disabilities in low- and middle-income countries: Self-advocate and family perspectives. “Self-advocates shared experiences in the focus groups of workplace bullying, mistreatment by supervisors and colleagues and exploitation in the workplace which indicates that supporting people to overcome barriers and get into a job is insufficient for ensuring inclusion.” (2022, Journal of International Development)

The Valuable 500 taking action: Inclusive moments from companies in the Valuable 500 network (2022, Valuable 500)

What is the future of work for people with disabilities? (2022, World Economic Forum)

How can public and civil services support people with disabilities into senior roles? (2022, Global Government Forum)

An ILO report Transforming enterprises through diversity and inclusion. “Overcoming inclusion as a privilege of seniority is key to fully realizing the business benefits it offers” (2022, ILO)

The Valuable 500 Launch World’s First Global Directory of Disability Inclusion Specialists (2022, Valuable 500)

Is It The Yuk Factor? Disabilty Advocacy Is Growing Up. Interview with Susan Scott Parker. (2022, Forbes)

LinkedIn Adds ‘Dyslexic Thinking’ To Skills List In Effort To Destigmatize. Dyslexic thinking being seen as ‘strengths in creative, problem-solving and communication skills’. (2022, The Drum)

A spotlight on Inclusion Breakthroughs in 2021 (2022, Valuable 500)

From the ITCILO with Cornell University, a course on Disability in the Workplace a 90 minutes training. (2022, ILO)

The upcoming G20, hosted by Indonesia will promote employment for persons with disabilities. (2022, Antara News)

What is the current evidence on promoting employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities? Recommends supported employment; little evidence from low- and middle-income countries. (2022, Disability Evidence Portal)

ILO Global Business and Disability Network Annual Report 2021 (2022, ILO)

The state of disability engagement survey data showing “employees with disabilities are having a far less favorable experience at work than their non-disabled counterparts. These significant differences are far greater than we have found for other diversity groups such as gender, race and sexual orientation.” (2022, Mercer)

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Asia-Pacific

Catalysts of Change: Disability Inclusion in Business in Asia and the Pacific. “The publication presents fundamental concepts, key components of fostering disability-inclusive business, and good practices and data, and provides recommendations for businesses and governments.” (2023, UNESCAP)

Preferential Contracting for Persons with Disabilities “An in-depth look at the practice of using public procurement to promote the employment of persons with disabilities” (2022, UNESCAP)

Why Hiring Individuals With Disabilities Can Benefit Asia’s Workforce (2022, Verve Times)

A resource guide for employers on Tapping the potential of persons with disabilities (2022, ILO)

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Middle East and North Africa

Regional Conference for Arab States on Inclusive Employment Representatives shared latest good corporate practices and lessons learned on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Arab States. (2023, ILO)

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Africa

Light For the World and Mastercard Foundation Partner to Enable Youth Employment for Young Africans with Disabilities. (2023, LFTW)

ILO data highlights need for disability disaggregated labour force surveys and investment in data systems. “Across Africa, 31 countries have at least one year of disability-disaggregated data available on ILOSTAT in the 20-year period from 2002-2022.” (2023, ILO)

Disability inclusion in the African business community: latest trends and good practices. Includes big multinational companies Unilever and Safaricom setting recruitment targets of 5% of persons with disabilities in their workforces by 2025. (Link to pdf, 2023, ILO)

Cross-Country Brief on Trends in Inclusive Employment (2023, Mastercard Foundation)

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Ethiopia

Creating inclusive workplaces for people with disabilities exchange between a deaf disability inclusion technical officer and their supervisor. (2023, FHI 360)

Disability-Inclusive Education and Employment: Understanding the Context (2023, Mastercard Foundation)

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Ghana

Disability-Inclusive Education and Employment: Understanding the Context (2023, Mastercard Foundation)

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Kenya

How we navigate our careers despite disability an interview with Senior Probation Officer and Football player for Kenya Women Amputee team Caren Musungu. (2023, Business Daily)

Breaking barriers to economic independence for people with disabilities in Kenya. (2023, Light for the World International)

Raising the Voices of Women with Disabilities Profile of Roselyne Olewe, “a leading voice in the fight for the labour rights of persons with disabilities in Kenya.” (2023, All Africa)

Platform livelihoods for youth with disabilities (2023, AllAfrica)

Bridging the Gap Between Young PWDs and Technology “The academy run by Sightsavers and partners aims to have young people with disabilities transition into formal employment at IT and telecommunications firms” (2023, The Kenya Times)

The startup giving a chance to people with disabilities Riziki Source matches members' credentials and disability with potential employers (2023, The Star)

Disability-Inclusive Education and Employment: Understanding the Context (2023, Mastercard Foundation)

Capability-sensitive principles for assistive technology to support young graduates with disabilities in Bangladesh and Kenya into employment. (2022, Journal of International Development)

New $6 million Inclusive Futures programme launched which "aims to increase the inclusion of people with disabilities, particularly women, and improve labour rights at two large Kenyan companies. " (2022, Inclusive Futures)

Unemployment in women with psychosocial disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from Tana River County. "We found that the pandemic worsened their experiences of work and employment, and they did not receive any social welfare or support from the government." (2022, Journal of International Development)

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Malawi

Disability inclusive employment in urban Malawi: A multi-perspective interview study. Explores the gap between policy and practice, looks into the informal labour market, economic factors as a source of discrimination and includes a scathing remark about international NGOs that “come to Malawi”:

“They come with their agenda of inclusion. But you'd find that for them to accommodate persons with disabilities, it would not be easy for them. You'd find they have signed commitments, whatever, out there, but [when] they come to Malawi—nothing like that is happening.” (2022, Journal of International Development)

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Mozambique

Solution and Success: Felix’s Story of Farming in Gorongosa. (2023, Spark)

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Niger

Economic empowerment for women and girls with disabilities (2023, UN SDG)

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Nigeria

Flood: Farmers with Disabilities Receive Support In Anambra “The International Organization for Migration has provided support to farmers with disabilities in flood-affected areas of Anambra, offering credit cards with 30,000 naira [33 USD] each.” (2023, Inclusive News Networks)

Persons with disabilities protest non-inclusion in Delta employment (2023, Daily Post)

Decent work inaccessible to most workers with disabilities: a survey of 600 workers with disabilities. “Most of the 660 workers surveyed are self-employed and in the informal sector. Almost half of respondents earn less than Nigeria’s minimum wage and say their work environment is not accommodating to their disability.” (2023, Solidarity Center)

Inside the lives of professionals living with invisible disabilities in Nigerian workplaces. (2023, Techpoint)

Disability-Inclusive Education and Employment: Understanding the Context (2023, Mastercard Foundation)

Documentary released on women living with disabilities in mining communities (2022, Guardian Nigeria)

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Rwanda

Disability-Inclusive Education and Employment: Understanding the Context (2023, Mastercard Foundation)

A video feature on Seeing Hands Rwanda which provides training and transition from training to employment. (2022, Disability Justice Project)

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Senegal

Disability-Inclusive Education and Employment: Understanding the context. (2023, Mastercard Foundation)

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South Africa

Barriers to the employability of people with disabilities in the public service (2023, African Journal of Disability)

In search of a landing place for persons with disabilities: A critique of South Africa’s skills development programme. One of which is that “focusing exclusively on providing hard skills fails to account for complex challenges faced by persons with disabilities”. (2023, Int Journal of Discrimination and the Law)

A labour lawyer argues that very little has been done to ensure that people with disabilities have employment opportunities. (2022, IOL)

Inclusive development: clearing up misconceptions on disability in the workplace (2022, Engineering News)

The matrix of linguistic exclusions impeding career construction for D/deaf learners: “experiences at home, school and in social contexts combined, impact negatively the process of career construction and its prospects.” (2022, African Journal on Disability)

How education, training and development support the wellness of employees with disabilities. (2022, African Journal of Disability)

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South Sudan

'I want to be self-reliant' — encouraging enterprise for Internally Displaced People. (2023, Light for the World International)

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Tunisia

"We are all different" video featuring the situation of workers with disabilities, discrimination against them, and political actions taken. Great selection of people working in different areas including entrepreneurs and artists. (in Arabic, with English subtitles, 2021, Solidarity Center and UGTT)

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Uganda

Disability-Inclusive Education and Employment: Understanding the Context (2023, Mastercard Foundation)

Closing the Employment Gap a feature video on how Ugandans with Disabilities Advocate for a More Inclusive Work Environment (2022, Disability Justice Project)

Leave No Woman Behind: A blog on Disability, Gender, and Employment. (2022, Disability Justice Project)

Celebrating “Make 12,4% work” a project for economic empowerment of persons with disabilities. Report discusses the way disability inclusion facilitators implemented the program and a detailed description of methodology and lessons learned. “Disability Inclusive Development is an emerging field with no blueprint readily available for practitioners developing and implementing programmes in the sector. In addition, a high level of complexity exists due to intersectionality and the diversity in disability.” (2022, LFTW)

Banking on Inclusion the experience of Stanbic bank. See also Lekker Bakery and Riley Packaging. (2022, Make 12.4% Work)

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Zambia

Having an income reduces HIV stigma and discrimination The experience of Regina Katungu Chileshe, an entrepreneur living with HIV:

“When you have a low economic status, people generally don’t respect you. And having HIV makes it worse. Through my own experience, I have seen how having an income and running a successful business increases people’s respect and reduces HIV stigma and discrimination.” (Mar, ILO)

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Armenia

Work gives me my independence Rafael Martirosyan does charity work and is a senior packer at his family’s bakery business in Armenia. He has Down syndrome:

“Work makes me a better person. As my co-workers will tell you, I am responsible and work hard. The fact that I am working makes me more independent.” (2023, ILO)

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Bangladesh

Small and medium-sized enterprises policy brief and disability-inclusive guidelines. (Link to pdf, Feb, Futuremakers by Standard Chartered)

Short video on the Inclusion Journey of Domino's Pizza Bangladesh (2023, Bangladesh Business and Disability Network)

Creating new opportunities Interview with Murteza Khan of Bangladesh Business and Disability Network. (2023, Ice Business Times)

Learning Document: Towards inclusion of persons with disabilities within BRAC’s Skills Development Programme. (2023, Light for the World International)

Capability-sensitive principles for assistive technology to support young graduates with disabilities in Bangladesh and Kenya into employment. “In Bangladesh, innovation hubs, SMEs and enterprise units are increasingly building new assistive technology solutions to strengthen capacity and assist young disabled graduates.” (2022, Journal of International Development)

Bangladesh expands tax incentive for employers of persons with disabilities and third-gender people (2022, BD News)

Conquering the challenges in employment: a film made by Bangladesh OPDs (2022, i2i)

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Bhutan

Supporting Employment for Persons with Disabilities in Bhutan: Results from an Employer Survey (2023)

Microgrants used to promote entrepreneurship in a pilot project. A film was also made about the project, Dreams of Birds Flying in the Sky, trailer available on Youtube. (2022, Kuensel Online)

“I want to achieve more, so that I can inspire more people” Living and Working with a Disability in Bhutan. A nice presentation of case studies and pictures from a project supporting disabled people with small grants. (2022, Royal Thimphu College and Fora Education)

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Cambodia

The Government sets quota of 2% for the recruitment of persons with disabilities. (2023, Khmer Times)

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Cameroon

Prejudice robs disabled women of work "Laws to protect disabled people are not enforced in the central African nation, leaving many without jobs. But a local organisation is helping equip disabled women for work." (2021, New Frame)

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China

Taking Steps Toward Disability Inclusion in China A group of newly launched business and nonprofit coalitions are aiming to advance disability inclusion in a new way. (Mar, SSIR)

Disabled people in China's Ningxia strive to achieve self-reliance (2023, Big News Network)

Supported employment helps people with Down syndrome find jobs (2023, Xinhua News)

Report on disability data with a focus on employment. (In Chinese, 2023, JSTV)

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India

Disabled candidates protest government exam in Lucknow. Protest contests seats reserved for candidates on basis of disability. (Jan, The Mooknayak)

Supreme Court gives a welcome order with problematic observations. Judges accepted inclusion of disabled people in public services they had been excluded from, but accompanied this with “seemingly discouraging remarks”. (2022, Indian Express)

Article on employment of persons with disabilities and statistics from public and private sectors. (2022, Business Standard)

Official Data Shows Central Government Jobs for Disabled Persons Have Declined Since 2018 (2022, The Wire)

The Supreme Court bats for disabled people in police force. “Experiment it for a while and if it does not work then you may not continue with it.” (2022, Times of India)

Enabling Inclusive: Best Practices in Disability Inclusion in Manufacturing Sector (link to pdf, 2022, IBDN)

Poorly Worded Ads, Apathy Are Depriving Doctors With Disabilities of Job Opportunities (2021, The Wire)

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Indonesia

A Different Way of Learning feature on how “Indonesians with Autism Forge Their Own Path to Education and Employment”. (2022, Disability Justice Project)

Inside Indonesia's grassroots fight for accessibility. (2022, FairPlanet)

Out of Their Hands video feature on blind massage therapists and other employment challenges for those with visual impairments, including the impact of the pandemic. (2022, Disability Justice Project)

New skills helped my business recover from pandemic. Feature trainings for entrepreneurs with disabilities. (2022, ILO)

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Iraq

Empowerment and jobs platform for people with disabilities an electronic portal launched by government. (2023, Ur Portal)

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Japan

At Japan’s dementia cafes forgotten orders are all part of the service. (2023, Washington Post)

Proxy agencies for disabled hires grow as firms try to fill quota. “Japanese firms have been using proxy agencies to employ people with disabilities, hiring them to work for unrelated farming projects in a move seen as a way to fulfill official disability quotas, according to a welfare ministry probe and a Kyodo News investigation.” (2023, Kyodo) Reaction from Barrier Free Japan (brief audio, no transcript).

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Nepal

From staying home to thriving entrepreneurs: stories from four young people with disabilities. (2023, CBM UK)

Lived Employment Experiences of Persons with Physical Disabilities: “over-protective behaviour from family members, discrimination by employers in recruitment, and continuance in employment were barriers.” (2022, Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research)

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Pakistan

The Human Rights Ministry wants disability quota filled “The ministry for human rights on Saturday wrote official letters to 29 government departments to implement two percent disability employment quota.” (2022, Dawn)

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Singapore

Leadership commitment is key to scaling disability inclusion (2022, The Business Times)

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South Korea

”They cancelled my job interviews because I'm disabled” a linkedin post that went viral. (2022, BBC)

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Uzbekistan

NGO Helps Pioneer Disability-Inclusive Employment “In 2021, the team launched the job-searching website IshPlus.uz. Within a year, the project successfully assisted 50 individuals with disabilities to secure employment.” (2023, Eurasia Foundation)

Barriers to disability-inclusive employment: A pilot qualitative study of disabled people's lived experiences. “The current institutional and policy framework is rooted in the Soviet legacies of disability assessment which conflates disability with the loss of working capacity.” (2022, Journal of International Development)

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Europe

The EU Disability Employment Package – impact for persons with disabilities. (2023, EDF)

Updated guide on disability in sustainability reporting. (2023, GRI)

Companies in the EU will have to report on disability inclusion “and other marginalised groups, due to the new EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSRD).” (2023, EDF)

Majority of persons with disabilities locked out of quality employment review of the right to work across European countries shows a gap of 24 percentage points in employment between people with and without disabilities. (2023, EDF)

Disability and Gender Gaps: a position paper addressing unequal employment of women with disabilities. (2022, EDF)

A toolkit for Public Employment Services to combat labour market discrimination against persons with disabilities. (2022, European Commission)

EU historic agreement on minimum wage covers workers with disabilities. (2022, EDF)

Working at EU institutions not easy for ethnic minority staff “Working for the EU institutions is no walk in the park for people of colour or with disability, with almost 60 percent of respondents from both categories saying they have observed or experienced discrimination.” (2022, EU Observer)

The right to work: enabling people with disabilities to thrive in the job market (2022, Euronews)

Disability Employment Package to improve labour market outcomes for persons with disabilities (2022, European Commission)

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France

The disability employment quota between social policy and antidiscrimination (2022, Anne Revillard)

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Germany

A higher fee for larger employers who do not fulfil obligations to employ people with severe disabilities. (2023, Deutschlandfunk)

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Ireland

Graduates with disabilities are less likely to be employed – and are paid less. (2023, Independent.ie)

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Moldova

Give people with disabilities a chance to work experience of a woman with disability working at an electronic systems company. (2022, ILO Voices)

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Norway

This is a pretty tough industry: an initiative for recruitment into IT jobs. (In Norwegian, 2023, Kode24)

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Poland

Survey report on 10 principles for successfully employing people with disabilities A mixture of experiences of disabled people, employers, and guidance for businesses to become more inclusive. (link to pdf, 2021, TAKpelnosprawni)

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Russia

Search for people to build fortifications, including digging trenches, mentions jobs for persons with disabilities. (2022, Yahoo! News)

Barriers and Opportunities to Employment for Persons with Disabilities (2021, World Bank)

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Spain

"The leader of the future, if they're not inclusive, won't be a leader" (in Spanish, 2022, Ethic)

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Sweden

Disability, Gender and Hiring Discrimination: an experiment sending 2,000 job applications found that “nondisabled applicants receive 33 percent more callbacks than similarly qualified wheelchair users despite applying for jobs where the impairment should not interfere with performance” (2023, IZA Institute of Labour Economics)

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Switzerland

Sheltered workshops criticized for derisory pay of persons with disabilities. Some receiving as little as 5 francs per month. (2023, MA RTS)

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Ukraine

Ukrainian national network “TOGETHER” joins the Global Business and Disability Network. They have a guide for employers to involve disabled people and research on challenges and opportunities. (Jan, Confederation of Employers Ukraine)

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United Kingdom

Workforce Disability Equality Standard: 2023 data analysis report for NHS trusts. 23.4% of staff declared a long-term condition or illness in 2023 in the anonymous staff survey. (Mar, NHS England)

What are energy-limiting conditions? A guide for employees and their managers, and introduction to chronic illness at work. (Feb, Catherine Hale)

Autistic people held back by job interview questions according to a report on autism in the workplace. (Feb, BBC) See the full Buckland Review of Autism Employment.

Menopause in the workplace: Guidance for employers. “If menopause symptoms have a long term and substantial impact on a woman’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, these symptoms could be considered a disability.” (Feb, Equality and Human Rights Commission)

Understanding unemployment: what role does ethnicity and disability play? “Unemployment varied greatly by disability status and ethnicity, with Census 2021 estimated unemployment rates for some groups as low as 2.9%, while for others it was up to 17.2%.” (Jan, ONS)

Top Disability Confident members ‘do no better on jobs than non-members’ (2023, Disability News Service)

BCS diversity report 2023: Disability industry body for IT gives a report on disabled people working in tech. (2023, BCS)

4% of large charities report their disability pay gaps, research finds (2023, Civil Society)

Do disability passports really work? “Passports will not help employees – and may present more barriers – if wider approaches to disability and adjustments are poor. The passports themselves are no substitute for sound adjustments processes or good manager attitudes to disabled employees. [...] When done as a “box ticking exercise”, as some employees and managers reported they were, passports risk being ineffective or even harmful.” (2023, Business Disability Forum)

Slow Workers: Labelling and Labouring in Britain, c. 1909–1955

“Intellectually disabled people adopted precarious strategies of ‘getting by’ and while they commonly experienced low wages, could also sustain degrees of community inclusion at the margins of the economy.” (2023, Social History of Medicine)

Great Big Workplace Adjustments Survey 2023 Results

“Disabled employees are still waiting too long for the adjustments they need to reduce or remove the barriers they experience in their jobs: 1 in 8 employees have to wait more than a year for them. Employees also have to push for adjustments, or even fund them, themselves. Only ten percent of people told us it was easy to get the adjustments they needed.” (2023, BDF)

Two-thirds of UK workers with long Covid have faced unfair treatment, says report (based on survey of 3,000). (2023, the Guardian)

Why employer inflexibility matters for the recruitment, retention and progression of disabled workers.

“Whilst some disabled people may need specific aids, adaptions, or equipment in order to facilitate their ability to work, the vast majority only require changes in the way in which work is organised.” (2023, Disability & Society)

Disability and Small Business Report (2023, Small Business Britain)

Non-disabled workers paid 17% more than disabled peers. Disabled women face the biggest pay gap and it persists for workers throughout their careers. (2022, TUC)

Positively Purple a new book from Kate Nash on building an inclusive culture in business. (2022, KoganPage)

Employers influencing disabled people’s employment through responses to reasonable adjustments. Employer reactions to requests for adjustments in the workplace go on to influence the rest of disabled people's careers. (2022, Disability and Society)

Disability Pay Gap: “Mandatory reporting would only capture a snippet of the full picture as only large organisations would be required to report”. (2022)

The blind farmer: ‘It’s all I ever wanted to do. Now I can help others do it’ (2022, the Guardian)

‘I was dismissed as simple’: People reveal the reality of disability discrimination at work (2022, Metro.co.uk)

Disability pay gaps in the UK: 2021 “The disability pay gap, the gap between median pay for disabled employees and non-disabled employees, was 13.8% in 2021”. There is a slightly wider pay-gap for men with disabilities, and considerably wider for those with more activity limitations, or with autism listed as their main impairment. (2022, ONS)

Business Without Barriers: interviews with successful disabled entrepreneurs and personal accounts from employers who are helping to break down barriers to employment. (2022, FSB)

Disability Smart Awards (2021, Business Disability Forum)

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Canada

What is the pay gap between persons with and without disabilities?

“The 2019 CIS revealed that persons with disabilities aged 16 years and older had an average annual income of about $11,500 less than persons without disabilities ($43,400 and $55,200, respectively). This results in a 21.4% pay gap between persons with and without disabilities, or persons with disabilities earned 79 cents to every dollar earned by persons without disabilities.” (2023, Statistics Canada)

Executives with disabilities in Canada, 2019 (2023, Statistics Canada)

From the Standpoint of Employees with Disabilities: An Analysis of Workplace Accommodation Processes in the Non-Profit Sector. “The use of medical documentation creates a culture of distrust, and barriers to inclusion and a sense of belonging.” (2023, Canadian Journal of Disability Studies)

Diversity Works research looking at employment journeys of black, indigenous and people of colour with disabilities. (2022, Canadian Association for Supported Employment)

Opinion: It’s time for a culture shift where disability inclusion is concerned. By friend of the Debrief, Yazmine Laroche. (2022, Globe and Mail)

Up to $270 million is available to fund projects to connect persons with disabilities with good jobs. (2022, Government of Canada)

Employers’ lessons learned in hiring, retaining and advancing employees with disabilities (2022, Public Policy Forum)

Job boards aren’t designed with disability in mind. That needs to change (2022, CareerWise)

A report on disability inclusion in MBA programs “half of the respondents had a negative perception of employers' on-campus recruitment drives“ including stereotyping and ableism. (2022, Access to Success)

Hiring more people with disabilities can address labour shortages

"Labour shortages are one of the biggest issues facing Canadian companies right now, but there’s an underrepresented and untapped pool of skilled Canadians that could help close the gap: people with disabilities." (2021, Globe and Mail)

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Honduras

Defrauded by fake offer of employment in the UN. “Forty people with disabilities were scammed by people who posed as officials of the United Nations (UN), as they were promised a job opportunity in exchange for sending 400 lempiras for the required documentation.” (In Spanish, Jan, La Tribuna)

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United States

In Georgia, a Rare Bipartisan Push for Disability Rights “The Peach State might be the next to end subminimum wages for disabled workers. ” (Apr, Mother Jones)

Disability, Immigration, and Postpandemic Labor Supply “We show that the increase in the disabled labor force largely reflects a change in self-reported disability status among those already in the labor force rather than an actual increase in labor supply.” (Mar, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland)

Eliminating Barriers to Employment for Disabled Women from playbook for the advancement of women in the economy. (Mar, Center for American Progress)

Kansas Plans to Phase Out Subminimum Wage for Disabled People (Feb, Mother Jones)

Pennies on the Dollar: The Use of Subminimum Wage for Disabled Workers across the United States: “17 states have taken action to either eliminate the use of subminimum wage or are actively phasing it out.” (Feb, New America)

Disabled employment surged in COVID 2024 less certain. The disabled workforce has “climbed by more than 30% since just before the pandemic began, eclipsing broader workforce growth.” (Feb, Reuters)

Hundreds of Companies Legally Pay Disabled Workers Below Minimum Wage.

“What began as a provision of President Roosevelt’s 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, which was meant to improve employment for disabled people — employment was seen then, same as now, as a key part of someone’s American-ness — came at a time when institutionalization was the only path for a lot of marginalized folks. But it has apparently morphed into something else entirely: a business-branded excuse to dehumanize disabled workers in yet another way.” (Jan, Teen Vogue)

Disability activists keep pretending severe autism doesn’t exist a mother argues in defense of programs that pay a subminimum wage. (2023, Washington Post)

Disability Inclusion Imperative a report showing how:

“the business case for hiring persons with disabilities has become even stronger. Specifically, companies that have led on key disability inclusion criteria over that time saw 1.6 times more revenue, 2.6 times more net income and 2 times more economic profit than other companies in the Disability Equality Index.” (2023, Accenture and Disability:IN)

A Key Tool for Disability Employment and Neuroinclusion. The key to disability employment is flexibility. (2023, Psychology Today)

Nearly half of women with disabilities report experiencing sexual harassment or assault at work 48% of women with disabilities reported this compared to 32% of women without disabilities. (2023, the 19th)

Department of Labour Invests Millions Into Helping Employ People with Disabilities, “making available more than $69 million in grants to states to develop innovative strategies to help marginalized youth and young adults with disabilities join the workforce.” (2023, SHRM)

Disability Status and Work Linkedin uses its information to explore employment and leadership trends.

“Members reporting disabilities exhibit significant differences in industry representation when compared to those without disabilities. Specifically, workers with disabilities are 1.5 times more likely to work in Consumer Services, 1.4 times as likely to work in Government Administration, and 1.3 times more likely to work in Education, in contrast to their counterparts without disabilities.” (2023, Linkedin)

How the Gig Economy impacts People with Disabilities Participating in the gig economy is a mixed bag and not even always available to people with disabilities (2023, Access * Ability)

Noise, light in stores can be harsh. Some businesses are offering special hours and events for people with sensory processing disorder that makes sights, sounds and smells feel overwhelming (2023, Washington Post)

Amazon Got a Perfect Score on Disability Inclusion—From a Group It Helps Fund – Mother Jones —From a Group It Helps Fund:

“Disability:IN released its annual “Best Places to Work” Disability Equality Index, which grades how well companies prioritize and accommodate disabled employees. One company that earned a perfect score: Amazon, which has been accused of disability discrimination by state agencies and current and former staff.” (2023, Mother Jones)

2023 Disability Equality Index Report (2023, Disability:IN)

‘An inherent indignity’: the fight to get workers with disability a living wage. “Advocates are highlighting a system of state tax credits across the US that allow employers to pay employees as low as $3 an hour” (2023, the Guardian)

Are Advocates for Corporate Disability Inclusion Anti-Worker? (2023, American Prospect)

Disability Justice—in the Workplace (and Beyond) (2023, NPQ)

My Daughter Expects to Work. Will She Make Only $3.35 an Hour? “Changing expectations, especially those informed by decades of social and economic discrimination, takes time, and ending 14(c) certificates [that permit employers to pay disabled people less than the minimum wage] is just the beginning.” (2023, New York Times)

Hearing Disabilities in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act. (2023, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

Disability disparities in STEM: Gaps in salaries and representation for doctorate recipients with disabilities. “Doctorate recipients working in STEM with early onset disabilities (identified <25 years of age) earned $10,580 less per year than non-disabled workers.” (2022, MedRxiv)

What the Disability Community Told Us About Sheltered Workshops in Missouri. “The respondents told me that they would be devastated if their sheltered workshops were forced to shut down. Some family members even bypassed our outreach questions and instead sent in letters expressing opposition to any changes to the federal subminimum wage law or requesting that sheltered workshops remain open in the state.” (2022, ProPublica)

For Disabled Workers, a Tight Labor Market Opens New Doors (2022, New York Times)

Human Resources software aims to make disclosing disability easier. Disclo is software for employers to “collect, verify, and manage health disclosures and employee accommodation requests”. (2022, Forbes)

Federal agencies recommend strategies to expand disability employment in state and local government. (2022, Disability Scoop)

New edited collection on Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Interests, Issues and Opportunities. “This collection provides an opportunity to look at how discrimination can occur across the employment process and what can be done to minimize the exclusionary practices that prevent neurodiverse individuals from getting into the workplace, advancing, thriving, and contributing as each of us desires to do.” The chapter on Shaping Organizational Climates to Develop and Leverage Workforce Neurodiversity is open access. (2022, Routledge)

Disability Representation on Boards Is Up, Yet Inclusion Lags. (2022, Bloomberg Law)

Making the ‘Business Case for Diversity’ Can Backfire with Underrepresented Groups by leading to a lower sense of belonging. (2022, Yale Insights)

Including Disability in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Priorities: Building A Maturity Model (2022, AskEARN)

7 Resources for People With Disabilities to Break Into Software Engineering Careers (2022, ContainIQ)

Twenty-Two Cents an Hour a book by Doug Crandell on Disability Rights and the Fight to End Subminimum Wages (2022, Cornell University Press)

How Managers Can Support Employees With Long COVID (2022, MIT Sloan)

Unemployment Soars for New Yorkers With Disabilities as Challenges Outweigh New Opportunities. ”New technologies and an explosion of remote-work jobs hasn’t stopped the unemployment rate for New Yorkers with disabilities from jumping 10 percentage points since 2019, while funding for support groups has been slashed.” (2022, The City)

Brand activism floods 'disability awareness' holidays. But too often, it ends there as well. (2022, Business Insider)

How Employees With Disabilities Are Influencing Workplace Trends In 2022 (2022, Forbes)

The Rise In Telework During The Pandemic, An Opportunity For Accessibility And Inclusion (2022, Forbes)

Detailed report on how Economic Justice Is Disability Justice “Achieving the as-yet unrealized promises of the ADA—and finally breaking the persistent link between disability and poverty in the United States—will require applying a disability lens across the nation’s economic policymaking.” (2022, TCF) See also 7 Facts About the Economic Crisis Facing People with Disabilities in the United States.

Supporting Employees with Long COVID: A Guide for Employers (2022, EARN and JAN)

Adobe Releases Results Of Study Looking At Recruiting, Retaining, And Supporting Disabled Workers See also the adobe study results. (2021, Forbes)

U.S. Department of Labor eliminates exemption for federal contractors with disabilities to be paid less than the minimum wage (2021, Council of State Governments)

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Australia

How Australia’s biggest brands made disability visible. A coalition of the country’s most well-known brands have swapped out key scenes in their commercials to include people with disabilities. (2023, Shots)

Research reveals employer attitudes to disability. “The survey of Australian Network on Disability’s 400 member organisations, including some of the country’s biggest corporations, major universities, and government departments, found 68 per cent do not have targets for the employment of people with disability.” (2023, Pro Bono)

Many Australian bosses believe disabled staff faking impairment. (2023, Daily Telegraph)

Australia is lagging when it comes to employing people with disability – “it will need to take affirmative action.” (2023, The Conversation)

Royal Commission report finds Disability Employment Services (DES) program failed to provide appropriate support. (2023, Royal Commission) Further reaction on the Guardian.

(Under)valuing lived experience in the disability workforce: “this study examined the ways in which lived experience was described as an asset in disability workforce recruitment.” (2022, Australian Journal of Social Issues)

Employment and mental health for people with and without disability. The beneficial mental health effects of part- or full-time employment were larger for disabled people. (2022, Population Health)

'The gap is widening': disability advocates say not all Australians are enjoying equal employment opportunities. (2022, SBS News)

Low staff turnover, high loyalty and productivity gains: the business benefits of hiring people with intellectual disability (2022, the Conversation)

People with disability working for legal pay as low as $2.27 an hour, inquiry hears (2022, the Guardian)

Increasing board and executive representation (2022, Australian Network on Disability)

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Brazil

Proposal to make quota law more flexible provokes demonstrations. (In Portuguese, Jan, Diário PCD)

Disabled people from minority groups face more inequality in the labour market. (In Portuguese, 2023, Gife)

Persons with Disabilities and the Quota legislation from 1960 to 2020. A huge personal archive from Romeu Sassaki. (In Portuguese, 2023, Sociedade Inclusiva)

Unilever ordered to fulfil quota of contracting persons with disabilities and making an investment to professional development. (In Portuguese, 2023, Justiça do Trabalho)

A new approach is needed to ensure equality in the work place for autistic people:

“As an autistic woman from a favela, my experience with the job market has always been an uphill struggle because the selection processes are designed for neurotypical people, who generally are at ease with oral communication normative social skills, while the specific communication styles of autistic and neurodiverse people are not considered. My work with the Black Lives with Disabilities Matter Movement (Vidas Negras com Deficiência in Portuguese), a movement that focuses on race and disability [...] has helped me to understand that these selective processes were built to prioritize white and non-disabled bodies.” (2022, Minority Rights Group International)

Inclusion with Accessibility at Work a site with quite a few resources (in Portuguese, 2022)

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Chile

How businesses manage law 21.015 on inclusion of disabled people in the labour market. (2022, Azarbe)

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