Exclusive: 25% of disabled workers have experienced discrimination during the job interview process, new survey finds

Disabled people experienced a record level of employment in 2023, thanks in large part to remote work. Despite opportunities created by remote work and the three-decade old Americans with Disabilities Act, many disabled workers still face barriers to employment.

Disabled workers often face barriers before they can even apply for a job, which continues once they’re in the workforce, and one in three disabled workers experience discrimination in the workplace, according to an Indeed survey of 2,078 workers, shared exclusively with HR Brew. Of those surveyed, 19% identified as having a disability.

Some 37% of respondents said they struggle to identify whether jobs will be accommodating to their disability, and 31% fear they won’t be considered for roles based on their disability. Finally, 25% said that discrimination poses a challenge in the interview and hiring process.

Donna Bungard, senior accessibility program manager at Indeed, said HR leaders can help alleviate some perceived barriers during the application process. For example, she recommended HR leaders examine job listings, removing potentially exclusionary requirements, such as the ability to lift 25 pounds if it’s not necessary to do the job, or adding a line about interview accommodations.

Some 33% said they do not feel comfortable disclosing their disability in the job search process. But not asking for necessary interview accommodations, such as live captioning, could negatively impact their chances of getting hired.

Bungard recommended that recruiters and HR leaders make accessible options part of every hiring process. “The application process very often will have phone screenings. So, if you have an applicant who is deaf or hard of hearing, if you have somebody who is potentially nonverbal…you’re screening out huge numbers of talented people who would be successful additions to a team.”

Accommodations and language are parts of the puzzle, but they’re not the whole picture, and Bungard recommended that every employee undergo disability etiquette and inclusion education. “You have various mandatory trainings [that] companies put out there,” she said. “Have one about disability and how to appropriately talk about it, and what that means to people…what the impact on the company is, and on the individual and how to just be a better ally.”

Disabled adults are the largest minority group in the US, Bungard pointed out, accounting for 27% of the population. While many may be afraid to disclose their disability, employers should assume they have disabled employees and proactively create accommodating workplaces. “People are going back to work after retirement…With our aging workforce, statistically speaking if somebody doesn't have a disability, we will age into one.”

Correction 03/05/2024: This piece has been updated to clarify the percentage of workers surveyed by Indeed who identified as having a disability.