Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing experiences in the workforce, including for people with disabilities. AI has the potential to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities, a group that continues to experience substantial employment gaps, with only 22.8% of individuals with disabilities employed in 2025 compared to 65.2% of their nondisabled peers. At the same time, AI introduces new risks that could reinforce existing inequities and create additional barriers to hiring, career advancement and workplace inclusion. Multiple groups have distinct but complementary roles in understanding and adapting to the changes AI brings to the workforce for people with disabilities, including employers, workforce systems, policymakers and people with disabilities themselves.
This explainer will present opportunities, risks and solutions across four groups.
Employers
Employers are far outpacing the public sector in adopting AI; businesses are integrating AI into their workflows to create efficiencies, increase revenue and innovate. Employers can better accommodate people with disabilities in the workforce and create more accessible workplaces by using AI. The Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT) published a framework to support employers in implementing inclusive hiring practices for people with disabilities while managing the risks associated with the use of AI technologies. The U.S. Department of Labor aims to use AI to “improve working conditions, increase employment opportunities and ensure work-related benefits and rights.” Additionally, employers can use AI to increase retention and career advancement for people with disabilities.
However, employers also run the risk of unintentionally creating additional barriers for people with disabilities by using AI tools. For example, people with disabilities are often screened out of the applicant pool when automated systems are used or unintentionally discriminated against in timed assessments. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) states, “An employer who chooses to use a hiring technology must ensure that its use does not cause unlawful discrimination on the basis of disability,” and offers guidance to employers to ensure they remove barriers rather than create new ones for all people with disabilities. Therefore, one solution employers could implement is to ensure the systems they use or plan to adopt are evaluated for potential bias and discrimination, particularly against people with disabilities and other historically marginalized groups, and that they provide reasonable accommodations and other supports needed for all applicants to fully participate in the hiring process.
Workforce Systems
State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies, American Job Centers and other employment and training programs are uniquely situated to help people with disabilities prepare for workforce changes driven by the rise of AI. These workforce systems should be intentional about helping people with disabilities prepare for AI hiring systems, AI use on the job and advocating for reasonable accommodations that could be supported by AI. Workforce systems can use AI to innovate systems that have historically been understaffed, underfunded and thus underutilized. However, workforce systems risk missing out on the AI revolution if state agencies are overly restrictive with their AI guardrails, block staff from using AI and fail to incorporate it to upskill job seekers.
One solution workforce systems could implement is to participate in cross-system AI Communities of Practice (CoP), comprised of employers, workforce systems, Vocational Rehabilitation, education and others who support people with disabilities on their employment journeys. This CoP could be a mechanism for sharing information, breaking down barriers, educating about bias and discrimination in some AI systems, supporting people with disabilities in the workforce, changing hiring practices and more. The CoP could serve as a think tank across partners and be solution-focused in a proactive way. In addition, workforce systems could provide AI training for their own staff and contracted providers, as well as for their job seekers with disabilities, allowing them to stay current with technology trends and upskill to engage in jobs that utilize AI.
Policymakers
Policymakers play important roles in shaping how AI is used in disability employment, from establishing rules and safeguards to investing in technologies, related trainings, research and innovation. Policymakers can create laws, regulations and guidance that support workforce systems in using AI responsibly and accessibly and promote cross-agency and cross-sector collaboration. Policymakers risk operating reactively from a purely risk-averse position and may stifle innovation through an overly restrictive approach to AI. One solution policymakers can implement is to support public-private partnerships among policymakers, employers, developers, users and workforce systems. This will allow them to leverage the expertise and input from all factions to ensure state-level partners can keep pace with the rapid advancements in AI technologies within the private sector. The public sector can influence the design of AI technologies to ensure accessible, unbiased systems and AI literacy and skills training can align with rapidly advancing technologies.
People with Disabilities
AI can serve as a powerful support and accommodation tool by enhancing communication, improving organization and time management, assisting with information processing and helping users create plain-language content and other accessible formats that help people with disabilities understand and relay information. Access to such supports may increase productivity, support job retention and advancement and help people with disabilities complete work tasks more independently. In a study of over 300 employees with disabilities who used Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft found that the AI tool was effective in breaking down barriers, as employees used it to “enhance communication, memory recall and focus” while also empowering “employees to fully participate and thrive in their roles.” Microsoft asserts the use of AI “can help create new opportunities for individual growth and foster a more inclusive and productive work environment.” If people with disabilities have limited or no access to AI technologies, training or opportunities to develop AI-related skills, the result could be a lack of access to job opportunities, furthering their already lagging employment rates compared to people without disabilities. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into workplaces, prioritizing equitable access and inclusive design will be critical to preventing a new digital divide and ensuring that technological innovation expands, rather than limits, employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Conclusion
AI should not be evaluated solely by its ability to increase efficiency, automate tasks or reduce costs. Its success must also be measured by whether it expands employment opportunities, improves workplace inclusion, strengthens access to accommodations and advances economic mobility for people with disabilities. As espoused by Microsoft, “Technology should empower everyone.” When thoughtfully designed and implemented, AI can help remove longstanding barriers to employment for people with disabilities by supporting communication, enhancing accessibility, personalizing training and enabling workers to perform and advance in their jobs in new ways.
At the same time, without intentional safeguards, AI can reinforce existing inequities through inaccessible technologies, biased hiring systems or automated decision-making processes that disadvantage people with disabilities. The challenge for policymakers, employers, technology developers and workforce systems is not simply to adopt AI, but to ensure it is developed and deployed in ways that promote equity and inclusion and expand opportunities for people with disabilities rather than create other forms of exclusion.
Photo Credit: 24K-Production