Washington State Department of Services for the Blind

Employment and Disability Facts*

Americans with disabilities are an untapped resource of job candidates.

Two-thirds of Americans with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 64 are not working. Two in 10 are working full-time, and 11% are working part-time.

Americans with disabilities are willing to work.

The overwhelming majority of non-employed people with disabilities in the working age population want to work.

Americans with disabilities are employable.

Working adults with disabilities are employed in as wide a range of occupations as working adults without disabilities.

Reasons Americans with disabilities are not working:

The main reasons why working age adults with disabilities say they are not working:

• Health/disability severely limits what they can do.
• Employers don’t recognize that they can work full-time.
• They can’t find full-time work in their occupation.
• They don’t feel that they have the skills, education or training.

*Provided by Louis Harris and Associates Survey, National Organization on Disability, July 1994.

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