Sam Malone has been looking for a job for years, and she believes the reason is that she is a full-time power wheelchair user. 

The 32-year-old New Brunswick woman has applied for part-time retail jobs with no luck. She has attended several interviews, but none have led to employment. 

“My disability cheque is not doing much anymore. Paying bills and stuff is getting harder and harder,” Malone said. 

In every interview, Malone said her interviewers have not asked her about her abilities or skills. 

“I really want people not to look at your disability, but look at things you can do,” she said. 

Malone is not alone with her struggle to find employment. Statistics Canada’s most recent labour market report found that employment for people with disabilities dropped in 2024 by 0.7 per cent to 46.6 per cent. 

While employment among people without disabilities also dropped by the same amount to 66 per cent, the notable gap in employment continues to widen for people with disabilities who often feel overlooked, even in healthy labour markets. 

New Brunswick has one of the biggest drops in employment for people with disabilities, at 3.6 per cent, as well as one of the lowest rates of employment at 42 per cent. 

Shelley Petit, chair of the New Brunswick Coalition of People with Disabilities, is not surprised by these statistics. 

“People with disabilities and employment issues have been largely ignored,” Petit said. 

The coalition lobbies the provincial government and works with non-profits to advocate for people with disabilities and fair employment opportunities. It was formed out of frustration with being left out by able-bodied decision makers, Petit said. 

“We were people with disabilities who just saw so many people falling through the cracks, and we came together, and we’re just all people with disabilities primarily who are unable to work anymore and we volunteer our time to do this because we think it’s important.” 

She said it took organizations a few years to take the coalition seriously, and even now, Petit said she often fields calls from job seekers about the many barriers they continue to face, not only from employers but also from organizations that offer employment support for people with disabilities. 

Sometimes employment organizations are located in inaccessible buildings or have other barriers that make it difficult for job seekers to access services, Petit explained. 

“They’re putting us in contract jobs to check a box,” Petit said. She said many people are looking for meaningful full-time work with benefits. Even if a person can get a contract job, turning that into full-time employment is difficult. 

“They just don’t want us,” Petit said, also citing that many people with disabilities, like Malone, have never had a paid job because they have never been given the opportunity. And it always comes down to the person’s disability. 

“A lot of people have given up. We work very hard, because we want to prove our abilities. They don’t want to give us that chance,” Petit added. 

Malone said she recently stopped her job search and is looking to upgrade her skills to find meaningful employment. She has volunteered as a shelver at her local public library for 10 years and wants to return to school to become a library technician. 

Misconceptions about ability a massive barrier to employment, advocates say 

The barriers to employment for people with disabilities are based on perceptions, explained Jeffrey Normore, Director of Digital Operations at the Canadian Council for Rehabilitation and Work, a national charitable organization dedicated to employment for people with disabilities. 

“Stigma has a lot to do with it, and there are misconceptions about productivity and costs associated with accommodations, ” he added. 

Normore explained that the reality is these stereotypes about people with disabilities are just that, stereotypes and misconceptions about what people with disabilities bring to the workplace. 

“This knowledge just isn’t getting out there to employers,” he added. 

Part of the CCRW’s role is to offer employment services on the ground in several regions across the country, working with job seekers and employers. 

Barriers are not always just physical built barriers, but can also include sensory barriers, communication barriers and transportation access. 

According to the CCRW’s 2024 trends report, 10 per cent of people with disabilities said they were denied employment because of their disability. The report also found that many people with disabilities who were employed were afraid of disclosing their disability out of fear of losing their jobs, and out of those who did request workplace accommodations, 24 per cent said their needs were not met. 

These numbers should be a wake-up call for employers to take inclusivity seriously, Normore said. 

Disability confidence training can help bridge gaps 

So, how can employers embrace disability inclusion and boost employment outcomes for people with disabilities? Normore said breaking down barriers is an important step, and it begins with employers. 

CCRW recently launched a series of digital tools to help bridge gaps for employers and job seekers with disabilities. 

A new digital Disability Confidence Toolkit offers resources and support to employers to boost their confidence in creating disability inclusive workplaces and hiring processes. 

The organization also launched a new disability confidence training program for employers this week, hoping it will help foster workplace inclusivity. 

Normore said it isn’t fair for people with disabilities to continuously advocate for themselves and their needs when looking for a job, and often people with disabilities will do a lot of research to find out whether a potential employer has inclusive practices. 

CCRW’s new training program will allow employers to earn badges to demonstrate that they are an inclusive employer for potential employees with disabilities. 

Job seekers want to see that a workplace is already inclusive before going into an interview, Normore said. 

In January the non profit launched an online job board called Untapped Talent that is specifically for people with disabilities looking for work. Normore said the job board has good uptake so far, with 2,700 registered job seekers and 135 registered employers. 

“We know job seekers want to see more opportunities. We know the talent is out there and they are looking for inclusive employers to hire them,” he said. 

Although all of these tools are relatively new, Normore hopes they will help bridge the gap between employers with job openings and job seekers with disabilities. 

Governments need to play a larger role in advocacy and employment 

Petit said every level of government needs to do more than give funding to non-profits who offer employment services for people with disabilities. She wants governments to hire people with disabilities. 

In most Atlantic provinces, the federal and provincial governments are the largest public sector employers. In New Brunswick in particular, the Government of New Brunswick is the largest employer in the province, yet only six per cent of its workforce are people with disabilities. Compare that to the fact that 35.5 per cent of New Brunswickers have disabilities. 

“The provincial government, federal government should be the people looking primarily to hire us, to help us demonstrate to other employers that we can do it because there are many employers that just look around and they’ve been told for years we couldn’t do it,” Petit said. 

Federally, advocates for people with disabilities are still reeling over the absence of a Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and People with Disabilities in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet. 

“People with disabilities represent 27 per cent of Canada’s population, yet they have no dedicated champion in the federal Cabinet,” said a statement from the Canadian Institute for the Blind that was co-signed by more than a dozen national organizations representing people with disabilities. 

“A dedicated Cabinet voice, especially someone with lived experience, was much more than a signal. It represents a meaningful commitment to dismantling barriers, promoting inclusive policymaking, and ensuring that people with disabilities play a central role in shaping decisions that impact their lives,” the statement reads. 

For Petit, the statement rings true. She said it feels like progress is going backwards when it comes to fair treatment of people with disabilities. 

“It’s very frustrating that people that are able-bodied and don’t get it are still the ones making the rules,” she said. 

“People who can work want to work. Not everybody with a disability can physically work, but those who can really want to work, but they need to be offered the opportunity to work, and somebody’s going to have to take the lead on that,” Petit said.

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