Applying an intersectional ecological framework to understand ableism and racism in employment among youth and young adults with disabilities

Abstract

Purpose

Youth with disabilities often face many barriers in finding employment. A knowledge gap exists surrounding the experiences of racially minoritized youth with disabilities who arguably encounter multiple and complex forms of discrimination. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of ableism and racism in employment among racially minoritized youth and young adults with non-apparent disabilities.

Methods

Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 racially minoritized participants aged 17—30 with non-apparent disabilities. Data were analyzed using a deductive thematic analysis approach informed by an intersectional ecological framework.

Results

Themes that affected racially minoritized youth’s employment included: (1) microsystems (i.e., individual barriers and facilitators to employment); (2) mesosystems (i.e., peers, family, disability, race/ethnicity, and work); (3) exosystems (i.e., workplace policies, healthcare system, educational institutions, community organizations); (4) macrosystems (i.e., ableism, racism, gendered discrimination and intersectional forms of discrimination); (5) the chronosystem (i.e., timing of obtaining employment, diagnosis and discrimination); and (6) ecological niche, which involved the extent to which work environments were safe and inclusive.

Conclusion

Applying an intersectional ecological framework facilitates our understanding of ableism and racism in employment among youth and young adults with disabilities. Further attention is urgently needed to minimize discrimination and enhance supportive, inclusive and psychologically safe, work environments for minoritized youth with disabilities.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• Racially minoritized youth with disabilities experience multiple forms of discrimination including ableism and racism occurring at multiple levels.

• Clinicians and service providers should develop and implement more tailored supports to optimize the employment outcomes and work experiences for youth with multiple minoritized identities.

• Clinicians should consider enhancing their knowledge about the challenges that youth with multiple minoritized identities encounter and help to connect them with appropriate supports and opportunities.

• Clinicians and service providers should consider their own potential biases to help improve health delivery and outcomes for multiply marginalized clients.

Keywords:

• Employment
• intersectionality
• social discrimination
• racism
• young adult

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this place is still home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land. We also thank the participants who shared their experiences, and the staff in the TRAIL Lab who supported this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported, in part, by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (CIHR-SSHRC) Partnership Grant awarded to Sally Lindsay and the Kimel Family Opportunities Fund through the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.