This is a word I have heard many times, but I don’t believe I’ve ever used before today. A young woman with whom I am working used it, equating it with discrimination.
She is one of the brightest people I know. Determined, dedicated, and driven to help make people and our community better. A college graduate seeking work in her chosen field, she’s also an ardent advocate for rights and excelling in a college program to improve her administrative skills. But she faces almost impenetrable barriers because of where she sits.
She lives with cerebral palsy and sits in a wheelchair. Her story is not unique; many capable people, all described as “atypical,” including those who are neurodivergent or live with physical or mental disabilities and/or addiction issues, are held back by conscious and unconscious discrimination, stigma, misinformation, or sometimes by their own lack of information.
People living with disabilities often want to work, contribute, and be part of their communities. Yet many face layered, compounding barriers that go far beyond motivation or ability. These barriers are shaped by rural realities, systemic ableism, misinformation, and lifelong experiences, including trauma and exclusion.
Not Knowing What Help is Available – While our social safety net is rife with gaps, many people living with disabilities are unaware of some of the resources available. Government employment programs that include pre-employment skills, wage subsidies, and job coaches. Income and medical coverage through programs like the Ontario Disability Support Plan (ODSP), Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) for people living with disabilities, the Canadian Disability Tax Credit, the new Canadian Disability Benefit, and the importance of filing taxes each year. Additionally, community organizations help low-income people and families file taxes for free.
Many communities have Legal Clinics that assist with common issues, and other non-profits help navigate the complex maze of applications and appeals necessary to acquire support.
Even basic tools like 211 (an online/phone resource available 24/7/365) for services and programs, food banks, and community meal programs are often unknown by some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
Call to Action: In areas where services are fragmented, people may lack the advocates they need to navigate the system. Feelings such as “I’m not employable” and “Working will cause me to lose my benefits” persist, forming nearly insurmountable barriers. The solution is education and a stronger, better-connected network of caregivers and community organizations, all actively sharing what they do. There is a patchwork of organizations, such as the Grey Bruce Poverty Task Force, the United Way, and community health networks, but more needs to be done.
Parents and Support People with Misconceptions or Impractical Expectations – Families and support workers often care deeply about people with disabilities. However, they can unintentionally create barriers by pushing someone who may not want to work or pushing people who do want to work into jobs that don’t match their capacity, sensory needs, or stamina.
Defining success for the person living with a disability begins with what they want. It may require a series of steps to build skill, confidence, and patience. Beginning with part-time hours can be a good starting point, as work pressure, routine changes, anxiety, and fear can derail progress at any moment.
The fear of disclosing a disability can be a stumbling block. While every organization in Canada is legally bound to have a diversity, equity, and inclusion policy, misconceptions and misinformation still persist among employers.
Parents and support people, understandably, may be overprotective due to past trauma, failures, and fear. This can lead to the assumption that “Any job is better than no job,” which, in fact, is not the case.
Other misconceptions families may have include, “They just need confidence,” “If they try harder, they’ll adjust,” “Employers won’t accommodate,” and “Once they start working, things will fix themselves.” The result is that the person being helped feels pressured, misunderstood, or set up to fail—further diminishing their confidence and willingness to try again.
Call to Action: Education, awareness, and trauma-informed practices are essential. We need to realize that our education and society are almost exclusively geared toward neurotypical approaches. Adjusting our methods to help people learn in neurodivergent ways will benefit them as well as ourselves.
Fear of ODSP Loss and Financial Instability – While some populist politicians suggest that people relying on support “just get a job,” this ignores some harsh realities, namely, the loss of income and/or medical benefits. This fear is one of the largest employment deterrents faced by people living with disabilities.
Many jobs offer only minimum wage, and few provide medical benefits. Applying for and obtaining coverage is a long, difficult process, often measured in months, not days. The added fear of not requalifying is a significant deterrent. Additionally, many recipients experience delays because paperwork is misplaced or improperly completed.
Call to Action: Governments must simplify the process for applying for benefits, making it less complicated and less adversarial. People living with disabilities need to know that re-obtaining benefits is a straightforward process.
Self-Employment is Rarely Presented as a Viable Option – Self-employment and micro-businesses are often overlooked, despite being an excellent fit for many people living with disabilities. The ability to control the environment in which they work can be life-changing for people living with disabilities, particularly those who deal with anxiety, hyper-sensitivity, depression, or multiple barriers. Freelance or remote work, craft, art, and repair work allow people to control their schedules, energy, and work environments, sometimes alone, sometimes in small groups.
Some jobs can be seasonal or task-based, such as tutoring or consulting.
Call to Action: Education and assistance in planning and establishing micro-businesses are crucial. We need to understand thresholds like those in ODSP, which allow people to earn supplemental income without jeopardizing their security. Community members should take on mentorship roles and encourage people living with disabilities to pursue what many entrepreneurs take for granted.
Inaccessible Hiring Practices – I believe many hiring processes unintentionally exclude people living with disabilities. Traditional interviewing methods tend to favor those who excel at interviews, not necessarily those who would be the best hire. For people who struggle with anxiety, overwhelming situations, eye contact, or fast responses, these hiring methods discourage rather than accept. Timed tests or verbal-only interviews only compound this disadvantage. Even worse, the rise of AI-driven resume screening mistakes efficiency for the “human” element in human resources.
Call to Action: Many organizations have policies inviting people with disabilities to request accommodations and have diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. But to be truly welcoming, we need to appreciate the lived trauma and systemic bias people with disabilities have faced. Employers need to embrace neurodivergent perspectives, understand anxiety, and be trauma informed. We must appreciate alternative communication methods, recognize that there are many ways to learn, and understand that there is more than one path to success.
Transportation – In rural and small urban areas, transportation is one of the most limiting factors for people seeking work. Owning a vehicle is often out of reach for low-income Canadians or people living on social assistance. Even qualifying for a license can be a significant hurdle. In the region where I work, it’s over 8,000 square kilometers, and limited transit options don’t accommodate working hours or inter-community scheduling. The cost of transit is prohibitively high, for example, a short 10 km route between towns costs over $40 round-trip.
Call to Action: Governments need to recognize that transportation is a significant barrier to employment for everyone, not just those living with disabilities. Politicians who expect transit systems to be cost-neutral or profit-making need to understand that, even in large regions, most systems require subsidies. Ride-sharing might be the best way to accommodate the varied needs of people working full-time and part-time jobs in rural/urban areas.
Impact of Lifelong Trauma – Many people in our society live with chronic, lifelong trauma. For people living with disabilities, especially those with medical issues, educational exclusion, bullying, repeated failures, rejection, poverty, housing instability, and being spoken over, this trauma has long-lasting effects. It impacts confidence, self-advocacy, stress, memory, executive functioning, and willingness to take risks.
Call to Action: Employment services must recognize that job readiness is only one piece of the puzzle. We need to address how trauma and neurodiversity impact not only finding a job but also keeping it and succeeding in it. This shift must happen across all support systems and networks.
Additionally, we need to understand the harm caused by “Special Education” groupings. These programs often group students with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, autism, mental health challenges, and learning disabilities together. This can result in low academic expectations, missed skill development, an internalized belief of being “less capable,” and limited exposure to opportunities.
Fear/Lack of Knowledge About How to Request Accommodation – People living with neurodivergence (Autism, ADHD, Learning Disabilities) often experience sensory overload in workplaces and difficulties with unspoken workplace rules. They may struggle with verbal interviews, experience burnout from “masking” (concealing how they feel and how stressed they are), and have their strengths overlooked.
People living with physical disabilities experience inaccessible workplaces daily. Despite accessibility laws, many encounter non-compliant spaces—such as offices with no ramps or automatic doors. Employers also fail to acknowledge the effects of jobs requiring standing, lifting, or extended shifts, as well as transportation challenges, fatigue, and pain management.
People living with mental health and addiction challenges face stigma, misconceptions, and misunderstandings daily. In addition to societal perceptions, they deal with fluctuating energy levels, anxiety around interviews, gaps in work history, and the fear of disclosure.
Call to Action: We need to normalize accommodation as a means of creating equity. These accommodations are usually not expensive and benefit more than just the person with a disability. Education, awareness, and a willingness to see different perspectives are key to removing these barriers.
Overlapping Disabilities – Having one disability makes finding a job difficult, but multiple disabilities increase the complexity. People with overlapping disabilities face even greater challenges.
Call to Action: We need to focus on a person’s strengths, not just their disabilities. By looking beyond the barriers and steering people towards strength-based plans, customized jobs, and non-linear career paths, we can create a more inclusive society. We should stop assuming that people with disabilities are only suited for entry-level or low wage work and focus on helping them discover their true potential.
This has been a longer-than-normal post, but this conversation needs to happen more in every community. People living with disabilities face interconnected and layered barriers because of their disability, but also because of misinformation, trauma, systemic ableism, rural isolation, narrow thinking about work, and overprotective and misinformed support systems. Overcoming employment challenges is not about laziness or lack of ability, it’s about systems that were never designed with disabled lives in mind.
For the young woman in the introduction, my goal, and your goal, should only be to see her abilities, understand that she’s the right person for the jobs she feels she can do, and give her the same opportunities to succeed that we all want for ourselves. Let’s remove the word “Atypical” from our vocabulary when it comes to employment.
Paul.