Employers generally feel that people with disabilities are good employees. Workers with disabilities may be more reliable on the job than many workers without disabilities. Supported employment is a way to help people with more severe disabilities get and maintain a job. Segregated work settings are being phased-out. Productive work helps people achieve independence.
Employment promotes empowerment and choice.
Employment increases the number of Americans paying taxes. According to the 1991 Lou Harris Poll, more than 8 million Americans with disabilities, ages 16-64, want to work but cannot find employment. Only one of every four people with disabilities who work, have a full-time job. Forty percent of people with disabilities over 16 did not finish high school. Americans with disabilities are much more likely to be poor and much less likely to be able to find work than most Americans.