The intersection between disability and labour
As someone with an invisible illness, I am very aware that visibility is not an accurate indicator of an issue’s severity or prevalence. This is particularly true when considering the experiences of disabled workers in Canada. Despite the number of working-age Canadians with at least one disability increasing, our needs continue to be sidelined by the very organizations that claim to represent us.
Disability isn’t going away. As a result, the need for progressive leadership that recognizes their obligation to provide, expand, and maintain accessibility is only growing.
Disability by the numbers
First, let’s talk about the prevalence of disability.
Every five years, Statistics Canada conducts the Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD). The most recent survey was completed in 2022 and provides demographic, employment, and income profiles for Canadians aged 15 years and over who have at least one disability.
The 2022 CSD reported that among Ontario residents, the percentage who had at least one disability increased to 28.0% (up 3.9%). Part of this increase can be attributed to an ageing population. But among working-aged adults in Canada, the percentage with a disability increased from 20.0% in 2017 to 24.1% in 2022.
The CSD is not the only survey that has reported a marked uptick in the prevalence of disability. OPSEU’s 2024 Social Mapping Project (SMP) recorded a significant increase in disability among union members. The 2024 SMP reported that the number of OPSEU members who identified as disabled increased, up from 14% in 2020 to 26% in 2024. While disability rates were fairly consistent across the province, the three regions with slightly elevated rates of disability: Region 3 (32%), Regions 1 and 6 (30%).
Disability is not a monolith
In order to understand how disability shapes the experience of disabled working-aged Canadians, we have to dig deeper into what we mean when we say “disabled.”
Disability is a broad category that can be divided into two sets of subcategories. The first is disability type. Statistics Canada sorts disabilities into nine sub-categories. OPSEU’s SMP used a similar classification system, adding chronic illness, sensory, and addiction to the classification and removing “unknown” as an option.
The table below is ranked in order of prevalence among OPSEU members. It highlights the difference in disability prevalence between working-aged Canadians and OPSEU members. Where a value is zero, it reflects a lack of data. Because OPSEU's SMP added classifications, the comparison is incomplete.
Prevalence of disability by type
The second way disability can be divided is by severity. Here, Statistics Canada uses four classes: mild, moderate, severe, and very severe.
As of 2022, the majority of Canadians with disabilities (59%) have disabilities that are either mild or moderate.
An additional factor to understanding the disabled experience is the prevalence of co-occurring disabilities. It is much more common to have multiple disabilities than it is to have a single disability. In 2022, 29% of disabled Canadians had one disability while 37% had two or three, and 34% had four or more.
Disability as a labour issue
So what does all of this have to do with organized labour?
There are many ways in which disability justice and labour intersect. The most obvious is that the percentage of union members who are disabled is growing. And there are many ways that disability impacts a worker’s career.
Barriers to employment
The first way that disability and labour intersect is in the ability to participate in the labour market. Disabled Canadians are more likely to be unemployed than non-disabled Canadians.
While 78% of non-disabled working-aged Canadians were employed in 2022, only 62% of disabled Canadians between the ages of 25 and 64 were employed. Among the disabled Canadians who were unemployed in 2022, 42% were capable of working, meaning that 741,280 disabled Canadians were willing and able to work but unemployed.
A 2024 study from the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship at the University of British Columbia (UBC) found “ableism to significantly and negatively affect employment outcomes, leading to reduced wages, fewer hours, limited opportunities for advancement, and lower employment rates among disabled workers.”
Even when disabled people are able to secure employment, the study detailed widespread reports of disabled workers being “employed below their qualifications with limited chances for promotion.” These reports replicate the findings of the 2022 CSD and research from KPMG.
In 2022, the CSD reported that non-disabled workers had a higher median income ($46,080) than disabled workers ($38,810). The median income of Canadians with severe disabilities ($30,590) was over 30% lower than the median income of non-disabled Canadians. Disabled women had a median income 11% lower than disabled men ($37,010 compared to $41,580).
2024 research from KPMG further highlights how ableism shapes and limits the careers of disabled workers. 60% of disabled Canadians report not being able to make full use of their skills at work, with many attributing this to ableism in the workplace. 68% report needing to work harder than their non-disabled counterparts to be valued and receive recognition. Unsurprisingly, only 32% believe that it is safe to disclose their disability at work.
Where are our unions?
Technically, being unionized should offer safeguards against ableism, but that can only really be true if addressing it is a priority for the union.
OPSEU’s 2024 SMP Report documented that disabled OPSEU members already have an unequal employment experience. The report found that disabled OPSEU members are more likely to not have sufficient income and report that stigma in the workplace is the biggest barrier to requesting accommodations.
Financial barriers for disabled members extend beyond having fewer chances for promotion and greater likelihood of underemployment, as the UBC and KPMG reports identified. The type of employment available to disabled workers affects financial stability and health outcomes.
When collective bargaining doesn’t maintain or improve working conditions, disabled workers pay the price. In 2002, 26% of OPSEU members were on temporary contracts. By 2025, 47% of OPSEU members were fixed term or seasonal workers. This type of employment offers neither short-term nor long-term disability leave. As a result, if a member needs extended time off due to illness or for medical care, their only option is Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits, which tops out at 55% wage replacement.
Another aspect of collective bargaining that disproportionately impacts disabled members is extended medical coverage. In 2022, 56% of disabled Canadians (nearly 4.5 million people) reported having at least one unmet accessibility/medical need. 73% cited cost as the reason. The group most likely to have unmet needs such as health care treatment, prescription medication, or assistive devices was working-aged disabled Canadians.
This lack of access directly relates to insufficient insurance coverage, an experience that disabled OPSEU members will be intimately familiar with. Currently, OPSEU members working in the Ontario Public Service receive $35 in coverage for a range of services including physiotherapy and massage therapy. Assuming a cost of $100 per treatment, this leaves disabled members paying 65% of the treatment cost out of pocket. So for a member to use their full $1,200 of insurance coverage, they would need to pay an additional $2,210 out of pocket (and that does not factor in the many treatments that exceed a cost of $100).
The inadequacy of this coverage disproportionately places a financial burden on disabled workers, for whom treatment is necessary to manage symptoms and maintain a reasonable quality of life.
Nothing about us without us
The disability justice movement is rooted in the call for inclusion and the need to put disabled people at the front of the work that aims to support them. Currently, organized labour seems to be missing this call. The longer it takes unions to get the message, the more disabled workers will need to shoulder the unnecessary weight that inequality and ableism create.