The Charity Trap: Why Disability Hiring Needs a New Narrative

Disability @ Work
Aug. 20

Ashley Sims
Welcome back to Disability @ Work, the podcast where we have honest conversations about disability inclusion, accessibility and what it really takes to create inclusive workplaces. I'm your host, Ashley Sims. Recently, I read an article in Time called, “The Contradiction at the Heart of Disability in America,” by actor, comedian and disability advocate Steve Way. The article highlights a reality many disabled people understand all too well. Society often celebrates disabled people when we're succeeding, working, and contributing while simultaneously questioning whether we're worth investing in through healthcare services, accessibility and public policy. The contradiction got me thinking about something we don't talk about nearly enough, but is something we here at Disability Solutions know all too well. Why is hiring people with disabilities still viewed by so many employers as an act of charity? Why does disability employment continue to get framed as something organizations do because it's the right thing to do, rather than because it's a smart business decision? Today we're talking about where the mindset comes from, why it's harmful, and why it may be one of the biggest barriers standing in the way of true workplace inclusion. Let's start with an uncomfortable truth. For decades, disability employment has often been marked through a charity lens. You hear phrases like give someone a chance, help a disabled person, support an underserved community. And while those messages are usually well intentioned, they reinforce a dangerous assumption that disabled people are recipients of opportunity rather than contributors of value. Nobody talks about hiring an accountant, a software engineer, a project manager or a salesperson as an act of charity. They're hired because they bring skills, expertise and value to the organization. Yet somehow, when disability enter the conversation, capability often takes a backseat to compassion. The conversation shifts from talent to accommodation, from qualifications and performance to limitations and pity. And that's not inclusion. It's a fundamentally unequal way of viewing talent. One of the most damaging consequences of the charity mindset is that it creates low expectations. When employers view disability hiring as a community service, they often focus on what they think someone can't do rather than what they can contribute. The assumption is that the employer is giving something, doing that person a favor. But people with disabilities are not looking for favors. They're looking for employment, for careers, for opportunity to contribute, grow and be recognized for their skills. The moment we stop asking, “How can we help this person?” And start asking, “What value can this person create?” The conversation changes completely. Because that's how every other professional in the workforce is evaluated: on merit. What's especially frustrating is that the charity narrative doesn't even align with the data. Organizations that intentionally invest in disability inclusion frequently point to benefits such as stronger workforce representation, higher engagement, improved retention and broader access to talent. Yet, despite years of discussion about disability inclusion, disabled jobseekers continue to report significant barriers. In our 2026 Disability at Work Survey, only 10.2% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that employers are genuinely committed to hiring people with disabilities. And nearly 75% believed employers do not genuinely understand disability-related needs. Think about that for a second. The disability community has spent years hearing employers talk about inclusion. We've seen conferences, webinars, awards, commitments, statements. And yet, many disabled professionals remain unconvinced that employers truly understand them or are committed to hiring them. That's a credibility problem. And credibility doesn't come from good intentions. It comes from results. I think this issue goes deeper than hiring. For generations, disability has been viewed primarily through a medical or deficit-based lens. Society has been taught to see disability as a limitation, a burden, a dependency, something that reduces value. So when disabled people show up in employment conversations, we often inherit those assumptions. The question becomes, “What challenges will this person create?” Instead of “What strengths does this person bring to the table?” And that's a critical distinction, because many disabled professionals develop skills that organizations claim they desperately need: adaptability,  problem solving, innovation, persistence, resilience and resourcefulness, the ability to navigate complex systems and overcome barriers. These aren't weaknesses. They’re workplace strengths. But when employers start from a deficit mindset, those strengths often remain invisible. Here's another uncomfortable truth: when companies position disability hiring as corporate social responsibility, it often creates a transactional mindset. Employers receive recognition, positive press, awards, inclusion rankings, industry accolades, and feel-good stories. And nowhere is that dynamic more visible than in how we measure disability inclusion itself. Take the Disability Index, one of the most widely-recognized benchmarks for disability inclusion in business. According to Disability:IN, the Index helps organizations assess disability inclusion efforts, identify gaps, benchmark progress against peers and evaluate areas such as accessibility, accommodations, leadership, recruitment, supplier inclusion, career development, culture, and marketing communications. The 2026 benchmark includes hundreds of organizations across dozens of countries, and is designed to help businesses integrate disability inclusion into core operations. And to be clear, measuring progress does matter. Benchmarking matters. Accountability matters. The Disability Index has helped bring disability into conversations that weren't happening 20 years ago. But there's a question we should be asking more often. Who gets to define that success? Because most disability inclusion measurements evaluate what employers say they're doing. They measure policies, programs, training, resource groups, accommodation procedures, recruitment strategies. And all of that is important. But those measurements tell only one side of the story. They tell us how organizations describe themselves. They don't necessarily tell us how disabled employees experience those organizations. A company can have a disability inclusion policy and still have employees who don't feel safe disclosing. A company can have an accommodation process in place and still deny employee accommodation requests. A company can earn a top score on the Index and still not have disability represented in its leadership. Are disabled employers staying, thriving? Are they experiencing psychological safety in that organization? Those are very different perspectives. Some disability advocates have argued that employer-focused benchmarks risk creating a gap between how organizations report disability inclusion and how disabled employees actually experience it. Critics have suggested that measuring policies without equally measuring employee outcomes can create an incomplete picture of workplace inclusion. And this is where I think the charity mindset quietly sneaks back into the conversation. Because when disability inclusion is measured primarily through what employers provide, we're still centering the employer as the hero of the story. We're still asking, “What is the company doing for disabled people?” Instead of asking, “Are disabled people succeeding here?” That's a completely different metric. Disabled employees don't want to be evidence that a company deserves an award. They want meaningful careers, fair treatment, leadership opportunities and psychological safety at work. The ultimate measure of the disability inclusion isn't what employers say about themselves. It's what disabled employees say about working there. And until we start measuring both sides of that equation, we're only seeing half of the picture. So what needs to change? First, we need to stop asking, “Why should we hire people with disabilities?” And start asking, “Why are we overlooking or filtering out qualified talent?” We need to stop treating disability inclusion as philanthropy and start treating it as workforce strategy. We need to stop celebrating companies for making promises and start holding them accountable for outcomes. Because the goal isn't to hire disabled people because they're disabled. The goal is to make sure disability isn't a barrier to opportunity. The reality is that disabled people are already participating in every industry. We're educators, engineers, healthcare workers, entrepreneurs, designers, scientists, executives, marketers, writers, tradespeople, creators, leaders. The talent has always been there. The issue has never been capability. The issue has been whether organizations are willing to recognize it. The real contradiction isn't whether people with disabilities can contribute. We've proven that for decades. The contradiction is that society continues to question our value while benefiting from our contributions every day. We celebrate disabled entrepreneurs, artists, innovators and professionals. Yet, too often, we still approach disability employment through a lens of charity rather than opportunity. And that's why this mindset has to change. Because employment isn't charity. Accessibility isn't charity. Accommodations aren't charity. Inclusion isn't charity. These are investments. Investments in people and talent, innovation and business success. And frankly, investments in a more equitable society. I also think we've reached an important turning point in the disability inclusion conversation. We've become very good at measuring disability inclusion from the employer's perspective. Maybe the next evolution is measuring it from the employees perspective. Not just asking whether policies exist, but asking whether they work, whether accommodations are available, whether people feel safe requesting them, Not just asking whether organizations appear inclusive, but asking whether disabled people actually experience inclusion. At the end of the day, the goal isn't to create companies that look inclusive. The goal is to create workplaces where disabled people can build meaningful careers, contribute their talents, advance into leadership and succeed on equal footing. That's not charity. That's what employment was supposed to do all along. Thanks for listening today. If this conversation resonated with you, please share it with a colleague or a friend. Like, share and subscribe. And don't forget to check out disabilitytalent.org. Until next time.