A survey for the National Organization on Disabilities found that current levels of employment of people with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 64 have actually dropped two percentage points since 1986, four years before the civil rights legislation was passed. 5 Several factors account for these high levels of unemployment.
Health insurance is perhaps the most significant.
In turn, employers are wary of hiring people with disabilities for fear of driving up insurance premiums for their businesses. Secondly, a further disincentive to work exists in wages, where recipients of SSI or SSDI often earn more by not working. This is particularly true among the severely disabled, where most work available will pay only slightly more than minimum wage. Thirdly, ADA has yet to be properly enforced. Furthermore, making new construction fully accessible increases costs by no more than one percent.