Post-ADA: Are People with Disabilities Expected to Work?

Abstract

The unprecedented growth in the younger disability-transfer population is counter to the goal of integrating working-age people with disabilities into mainstream employment. The onset of a disability need not result in a swift and inevitable movement onto the disability rolls for most people, and work-based policies in the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act can importantly increase employment. But until both the disability community and public policymakers take the risk of shifting from a disability policy primarily based on transfers to one based on the proposition that people with disabilities can and should be expected to work, young people with disabilities can look forward to a life of dependency.