Am I Not Qualified For The Job or Is It Ableism?

Last year in May, I successfully completed my bachelor’s degree in Psychology and felt a great sense of pride for this huge accomplishment since being a disabled person in a society where ableism is prevalent. I faced several challenges, including staying up many late nights, having emotional breakdowns (haha), and navigating the difficulties presented during the pandemic. Overcoming those barriers, I graduated!

Unfortunately, my joy was short-lived when I found out how challenging finding employment was as a disabled person. Despite knowing it would not be an easy process, the reality was far more daunting than anticipated. During my job search, I realized that some employers overlooked my qualifications and did not offer me a job or an interview because I put on the application that I am disabled. The internal bias of employers can impact how they perceive disabled people as potential employees, even though companies may not blatantly state they are rejecting the person based on their disability identity.

Ableism has developed various unfair generalizations and misunderstandings regarding disabled people, which affects the way society interacts with us. Those generalizations often affect the way employers see disabled people as employees. There are myths that disabled people are not productive, we will miss work more often than an abled-bodied person due to sickness or pain, we are not educated or skilled to do the job, and that firing us would be difficult because jobs do not want to risk being seen as discriminatory. Additionally, employers tend to have an issue with making accommodations because they believe it will be expensive, be unfair to nondisabled workers, or believe that accommodations are an inconvenience. Employers fail to understand that accommodations are what help disabled (also non-disabled) people perform better at their job.

Besides the myths and generalizations about disabled workers, job descriptions can also include ableism, which can hinder disabled job seekers from applying to certain positions. Yes, the job listings do focus on the job itself, but certain requirements focus more on a person’s (physical) capabilities than the actual job. Here are a few examples:

Must be able to lift 30 pounds: I have seen this requirement in many remote job descriptions that are meant to prevent disabled people from applying. This is an issue because why does a remote job require lifting? I know this requirement may be common for office jobs, but to be honest, not every single employee with be lifting 30 pounds every single day while they’re clocked in.

Ability to drive a vehicle: It is important that employees find a way to work, but if the job isn’t a driving position, why does it matter if the employee owns a car or not? There are many disabled people (also abled-bodied people) who do not own a car but use public transportation or have people take them to and from work. Having that requirement may lead a disabled person to believe that not owning a car would affect their chances of being hired.