Lack of Internet Harms Employment for Disabled

"Disparities in access to the internet and accessible websites is driving a gap in employment rates for people with disabilities, even as the prevalence of remote working opportunities has opened the door for them.

While the Covid-19 pandemic made the digital world more vital for day-to-day activities—including work—web accessibility for those with disabilities isn’t guaranteed in the same way physical commercial spaces are.

Disabled workers are 13% less likely to have internet access at home and 11% less likely to own a computing device, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, which further narrows their opportunities for employment. At the same time, as the unemployment rate doubled between late 2019 and late 2020, workers with disabilities became unemployed and stayed unemployed at higher rates than workers without disabilities.

Workers with disabilities who did have internet access were more likely to stay employed, the report found. Meanwhile, there was no correlation between internet access and employment retention among workers without disabilities.

The primary barrier to internet access for those with disabilities was cost.

Poverty is the root of the issue, according to Charles Catherine, director of corporate and government relations at the National Organization on Disability. With fewer work opportunities to begin with, people with disabilities are less likely to have disposable income to spend on internet access.

“The digital divide is real for people with disabilities, but it really could be seen as a symptom of broader inequities,” Catherine said."

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