Shaping 

Tomorrow’s 

Workforce

Including Talents of Young People with Disabilities

Thanks to advancements in technology, 

young people with disabilities can do 

virtually any job that someone without a 

disability can perform. Expanding your 

workplace to include young people with 

and without disabilities is a positive way 

to help shape the future workforce—and 

benefit your business. 

Why hire young people with disabilities?

In addition to enhancing your workforce, 

recruiting and hiring young people with 

disabilities makes good business sense. 

Youth bring fresh new perspectives on 

strategies for meeting business challenges 

and achieving success. Hiring young people 

with disabilities is also a valuable way to 

reach out to an important market base. 

According to the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS), there are approximately 

2.4 million young people with disabilities 

(ages 16-24) in the United States. 

Finding Qualified Candidates

While many employers indicate that 

they want to include young people with 

disabilities in their internships and hiring 

efforts, they don’t always know where 

to recruit them. The answer is fairly 

simple. Young people with disabilities can 

generally be found everywhere that other 

youth are found, such as at college career 

fairs, through job search Web sites, at the 

mall, or at the student union hanging out 

with their friends. Because they also are 

reading and writing blogs, exploring Web 

sites, and connecting to listservs to search 

for jobs, you can increase the likelihood of 

grabbing their attention by explicitly stating 

your desire to recruit and hire people with 

disabilities in your vacancy announcements. 

O F F I C E O F D I S A B I L I T Y E M P L O Y M E N T P O L I C Y 
Where to Find Young People for 

Internships and Permanent Jobs

Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP)

www.wrp.gov

Co-sponsored by the U. S. Department of Labor’s 

Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), 

and the U. S. Department of Defense, the WRP is 

a recruitment and referral program that connects 

federal sector, private, and non-profit employers 

nationwide with highly motivated postsecondary 

students and recent graduates with disabilities 

who are ready to prove their abilities in summer or 

permanent jobs.

Employer Assistance & Recruiting Network 

(EARN)

www.earnworks.com

Funded by ODEP, EARN is a free, Web-based service that connects employers looking for quality 

employees with skilled job candidates. The Web 

site is a one-stop source for disability employment 

information, including recruiting services, tools and 

resources, employer success stories, and the business case for hiring people with disabilities.

National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN)

www.nyln.org 

The NYLN promotes leadership development, education, employment, independent living, and health 

and wellness among young leaders representing the 

diversity of race, ethnicity and disability in the U. S. 

NYLN’s large listserv of young people with disabilities can be a ready distribution mechanism for your 

job announcements.

Kids As Self Advocates (KASA)

www.fvkasa.org

KASA members serve as advisors to the more 

than 40,000 members of Family Voices across the 

country and organizations and agencies interested 

in promoting youth involvement and leadership. 

KASA’s large listserv of young people with disabilities can be a ready distribution mechanism for your 

job announcements. 

Online Job Search Web Sites

Most of the Web-based job search engines (i.e., 

Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com) have a section 

of their Web sites that focus on “diversity jobs.” 

Depending on the Web site, the information can 

vary from a list of employers who have a positive 

track record hiring people of diverse backgrounds 

to a listing of open positions at companies that are 

encouraging applicants of diverse backgrounds. 
Employers can search resumes of applicants 

who have chosen to self-identify as being from a 

diverse background on most of these Web sites. 

These diversity searches are not always disability 

specific.

Association on Higher Education and Disability 

(AHEAD)

www.ahead.org

AHEAD is a professional association committed 

to the full participation of persons with disabilities in postsecondary education. Its Web site 

provides contact information for Disability Services Advisors at colleges and universities across 

the nation, which can be useful to employers 

seeking job candidates in a specific area. Many 

Disability Services Offices keep a list of students 

and recent graduates with disabilities who are 

looking for employment. 

Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD)

www.cosdonline.org

Through its Career Gateway Database, COSD 

provides a Web-based forum where employers 

can search for qualified candidates, and graduating college and university students can post their 

resumes.

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)

www.aapd.com

AAPD is the largest national nonprofit cross-disability member organization in the United States, 

representing the more than 56 million Americans 

with disabilities. To reach out to both youth and 

adult job seekers with disabilities, email your 

job announcement to AAPD; they will post your 

company’s name, position location, position title, 

and a link to your position description on their 

Web site. 
Office of Disability Employment Policy - U.S. Department of Labor 

200 Constitution Avenue, NW • Washington, DC 20210 

Voice: 1-866-ODEP-DOL (633-7365) • TTY: 1-877-889-5627

www.dol.gov/odep 

Don’t Forget Accessibility

Another important strategy, which will 

also assist you in your broader recruitment 

efforts, is to ensure that your company’s 

online information and job applications are 

available in alternative accessible formats. 

For example, providing information in larger print or in simplified language may assist you in reaching not only young people 

with and without disabilities, but also older 

workers and individuals with limited English language proficiency. It is also important to ensure that your online application 

processes provide sufficient time flexibility 

so as not to screen out potentially qualified 

workers. 

The key to making online job information 

accessible to people with disabilities is Web 

page design. In order to consider the accessibility needs of the end user, there are 

several design tips and validation services 

available to webmasters. For a summary of 

these, visit Tips for Designing Accessible 

Web Pages at www.jan.wvu.edu/media/webpages.html.

Free Information on Accommodations 

for Employees with Disabilities

Job Accommodation Network (JAN)

www.jan.wvu.edu

Funded by ODEP, JAN is a free consulting service that provides individualized 

accommodation solutions for the workplace, technical assistance on the 

employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other 

disability-related legislation, education about self-employment options for 

people with disabilities, and research findings on workplace accommodations. 

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