Should Employers Receive Incentives for Hiring Disabled People?

Posted on | by Leah Smith
Employer Tax Incentives Infographic- Turqoise box and half circles with white text. Incentives vs. Tokenism ven though progress has been made towards more inclusive workplaces, people with disabilities still face real challenges when it comes to finding and keeping jobs. These challenges can include physical barriers, lack of accommodations, and misunderstandings about what people with disabilities can do. To help change this, the government offers programs that encourage businesses to hire and support employees with disabilities. These include: Tax breaks for companies that make their workplaces more accessible, Grants and funding to help cover the cost of things like assistive technology or job training, and Support services that connect employers with resources and help individuals with disabilities succeed on the job. Question Posed: Should Employers receive incentives for hiring disabled people, or does that reinforce tokenism and stigma?
Employer Tax Incentives Infographic- Thought bubbles with text from each person that responded to our question. " I believe incentives for hiring disabled people can be helpful when they’re designed to break down real barriers—like covering the cost of accessibility or making sure workplaces are truly inclusive—but if the focus is just on giving an employer a bonus for hiring us, it risks reducing disabled employees to a box to check or a discount to cash in on. Disabled people bring skills, talent, and value to every field, and we should be hired because of that, not because of a tax credit. So I support investments that remove structural barriers and hold employers accountable for creating accessible, equitable workplaces, but I’m not interested in policies that treat disabled people like charity cases instead of recognizing us as the professionals we are. -Stephanie Woodward, Executive Director, Disability EmpowHer Network" “Ick. No.” - Disabled Employee "“I’m disabled and I’d feel gross knowing my boss got a stipend for hiring me. It would feel like I didn’t get hired for my talent/skill” - Disabled Employee “My immediate thought is no, but there should be more of a ‘blind’ interview process. I just don’t know how to word what I’m thinking Mainly I say no because I think perception of it would ebb and flow like companies now “pride washing” themselves in this climate and I think those employees would be first on the chopping block when times got tough.” - Disabled Employee “No. I think it reinforces the notion that disabled people do not add value to the places they’d like to work WITH their disability. It’s like a move to separate their ability to work from their disability and doesn’t allow them to show up in their various work spaces as whole, which hinders true belonging. It’s like they’d need their hands held to be able to see us as capable and yet complex humans and employees to have someone other than our own selves trying to pursue going for a particular position. Unless it’s actually part of someone’s disability that they need assistance with the application process due to difficulty or inability to write or speak or see or hear or something like that, the person with the disability should be the person that the employer bases their opinion on. Not the person speaking or acting for that person. Which is already a huge social barrier in non employment situations as well.” - Disabled Employee
Employer Tax Incentives Infographic- Thought bubbles with text from each person that responded to our question. “In Taiwan, companies of a certain size are required to hire a percentage of disabled employees. As a result, many big companies have cultivated mature internship/appretenceship programs as early as sophomore in colleges for students with disabilities. I like the approach being a few steps more than just a quote. Investing in the training, education, and job opportunities for the disabled community.” - Nondisabled Employee “Hiring people first for skills, talent, and qualifications but employers/businesses need to ensure they have accessible recruitment practices and accessible workplaces for all or as required, so funding/incentives could be used for companies to up-skill and invest this way.” - Disabled Employee “As a person with a nonverbal learning disability, Autism, and Bipolar Disorder- I would love for there to be incentives. It is very hard for some combination of disabilities to get a job. So I think anything to incentivize employers to hire disabled people would be very empowering.” - Disabled Employee “Ewwwwww, tokenism.” - Disabled Employee
Employer Tax Incentives Infographic- Thought bubbles with text from each person that responded to our question. “No because that won’t incentivize companies to treat you with respect and to be fully inclusive. Efforts like these fail. Plus, like AA (I’m black), I don’t want to be hired because I’m from a certain demographic. I want to be hired because I’m qualified and competent and bring talents to the company.” - Disabled Employee “This question is an excellent thought stimulator. Perhaps a company could get a stipend for having a certain percentage of disabled folks on staff?” - Disabled Employer “Hard No. It’s giving sheltered workshop vibes.” - Disabled Employee “When I was 21 I would have said, ‘No, that’s insulting.’ Now that I’m 43 and deep in my career, I am more of a realist and understand that disabled folks need all the help they can get to get hired. This is for 2 reasons: 1) The job market is SUPER competitive. It doesn’t matter if you have a disability or not, it’s super hard to get hired now a days. 2.) Unemployment among disabled people is SKY HIGH. If we want systemic changes, we have to have systemic incentives. One last thing: tokenism isn’t about simply hiring a person in a minority. Tokenism is hiring that person and bragging about it. You can get hired because your disabled, do good work, and never be seen by the outside world. One MORE last thing: using disability as an incentive doesn’t mean you don’t also consider merit. It just means you consider both.” - Disabled Business Owner

Want to learn more about Tax Incentives and Disability Employment? Check out our Incentives vs. Tokenism Infographic for more information

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