Innovative Strategies: Successful Transition to Work for People with Disabilities

Abstract

People with disabilities face many barriers to achieving competitive employment, including a lack of work experience, stigma and bias, inability to meet educational requirements, absence of employer-provided accommodations, transportation, affordable housing and others. Transition to work can be defined as moving from education to employment, from one career opportunity to another opportunity and sometimes from unemployment due to layoff or personal issue to employment. Innovative transition strategies for successful transition to work for people with disabilities have one common theme, commitment and participation from the employer community. The results of innovative transition strategies are sometimes impacted by specific job role, by industry and by type of disability; the more significant the disability is, the more challenging it is for a person with disability to achieve competitive employment. This chapter points out key factors to innovative and transition strategies and key factors required for people with disabilities to successfully transition to work.