Editing Accessibility (section)

==Employment==
[[File:Usda hiring applicants with disabilities.jpg|225px|thumb|alt=A man is speaking behind a microphone podium during a conference. Behind him, there is a screen showing a presentation slide reading "Four Simple Steps to Hiring Qualified Candidates with Disabilities"|William P. Milton Jr., deputy director of the Office of Human Resource Management, outlined the "Four Simple Steps to Hiring Qualified Candidates with Disabilities" to employees of the [[United States Department of Agriculture|U.S. Department of Agriculture]] during a 2011 [[National Disability Employment Awareness Month]] event in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]

Accessibility of employment covers a wide range of issues, from skills training, to [[occupational therapy]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=What is Occupational Therapy?|url=https://www.aota.org/Conference-Events/OTMonth/what-is-OT.aspx|website=aota.org|access-date=2018-07-02}}</ref> finding employment, and retaining employment.

Employment rates for workers with disabilities are lower than for the general workforce. Workers in Western countries fare relatively well, having access to more services and training as well as legal protections against employment discrimination. Despite this, in the United States the 2012 unemployment rate for workers with disabilities was 12.9%, while it was 7.3% for workers without disabilities.<ref>{{cite web|title=Disability Employment Resources by Topic|url=http://www.dol.gov/odep/|publisher=U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Disability Employment Policy|access-date=November 30, 2012}}</ref> More than half of workers with disabilities (52%) earned less than $25,000 in the previous year, compared with just 38% of workers with no disabilities. This translates into an earnings gap where individuals with disabilities earn about 25 percent less of what workers without disabilities earn. Among occupations with 100,000 or more people, dishwashers had the highest disability rate (14.3%), followed by refuse and recyclable material collectors (12.7%), personal care aides (11.9%), and janitors and building cleaners (11.8%). The rates for refuse and recyclable material collectors, personal care aides, and janitors and building cleaners were not statistically different from one another.<ref>{{cite web|title=Workers with a Disability Less Likely to be Employed, More Likely to Hold Jobs with Lower Earnings, Census Bureau Reports|url=https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/cb13-47.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau Newsroom|access-date=30 April 2014}}</ref>

Surveys of non-Western countries are limited, but the available statistics also indicate fewer jobs being filled by workers with disabilities. In India, a large 1999 survey found that "of the 'top 100 multinational companies' in the country [...] the employment rate of persons with disabilities in the private sector was a mere 0.28%, 0.05% in multinational companies and only 0.58% in the top 100 IT companies in the country".<ref name="dsq-sds">{{cite journal|first1=Arun|last1=Kumar|first2=Deepa|last2=Sonpal|first3=Vanmala|last3=Hiranandani|title=Trapped Between Ableism And Neoliberalism: Critical Reflections On Disability And Employment In India|journal=Disability Studies Quarterly|year=2012|volume=32|issue=3|pages=n.p.|doi=10.18061/dsq.v32i3.3235|url=http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3235/3109|access-date=November 30, 2012|doi-access=free}}</ref> India, like much of the world, has large sections of the economy that are without strong regulation or social protections, such as the [[informal economy]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/04/1008562|title=Nearly two-thirds of global workforce in the 'informal' economy – UN study|date=2018-04-30|work=UN News|access-date=2018-07-02|language=en}}</ref> Other factors have been cited as contributing to the high unemployment rate, such as public service regulations. Although employment for workers with disabilities is higher in the public sector due to hiring programs targeting persons with disabilities, regulations currently restrict types of work available to persons with disabilities:
"Disability-specific employment reservations are limited to the public sector and a large number of the reserved positions continue to be vacant despite nearly two decades of enactment of the PWD Act".<ref name="dsq-sds" />

Expenses related to adaptive or assistive technology required to participate in the workforce may be tax deductible expenses for individuals with a medical practitioner's prescription in some jurisdictions.

===Disability management===
Disability management (DM) is a specialized area of [[human resources]] that supports efforts of employers to better integrate and retain workers with disabilities. Some workplaces have policies in place to provide "reasonable accommodation" for employees with disabilities, but many do not. In some jurisdictions, employers may have legal requirements to end [[ableism|discrimination against persons with disabilities]].

It has been noted by researchers that where accommodations are in place for employees with disabilities, these frequently apply to individuals with "pre-determined or apparent disabilities as determined by national social protection or Equality Authorities",<ref name="Geisen165">{{cite book|author1=Geisen, Thomas |author2=Henry George Harder|title=Disability Management and Workplace Integration: International Research Findings|year=2011|publisher=Gower Publishing|isbn=9781409418887|pages=165}}</ref> which include persons with pre-existing conditions who receive an official disability designation. One of the biggest challenges for employers is in developing policies and practises to manage employees who develop disabilities during the course of employment. Even where these exist, they tend to focus on workplace injuries, overlooking job retention challenges faced by employees who acquire a non-occupation injury or illness. Protecting employability is a factor that can help close the unemployment gap for persons with disabilities.<ref name="Geisen165" />