Disability and Employment in Transition: Challenges, Innovations, and Opportunities

We explore emergent micro-, meso-, and macro-level issues that impact the experiences of people with disabilities at work and how these issues can drive research. These issues have received little attention in the management literature. At the micro level we examine how the definition of disability has moved from the medical model to an interactionist model, the intersectionality between disability and other identities, and evolving assistive technology. At the meso level we focus on ableism; new forms of work impacting the inclusion of people with disabilities; how disability is treated in organizations’ diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts; and the comparison of sheltered work to competitive market work. Finally, at the macro level, we examine the techno exclusion of people with disabilities, varying definitions of fairness (i.e., quotas versus accommodation), and the DEIA backlash.