Data

The Numbers.

Key statistics on disability, employment, and AI. The data that shapes A11y Signals coverage. Updated as new research is published.

01 — The Employment Gap

The gap between disabled and non-disabled employment
is measured in decades, not percentages.

Across every measured economy, disabled people are employed at dramatically lower rates than non-disabled people. The gap persists regardless of education, sector, or economic conditions.

United States
42.4pp
percentage point gap
22.8% disabled employed
65.2% non-disabled employed
BLS 2025
United Kingdom
29.7pp
percentage point gap
10.4 million working-age
disabled people
ONS/DWP Q2 2025
Australia
26.2pp
percentage point gap
56.1% disabled employed
82.3% non-disabled employed
ABS SDAC 2022
Canada
16pp
percentage point gap
62% disabled employed
78% non-disabled employed
Statistics Canada 2022
United States: Employment-Population Ratio
BLS 2025 · Ages 16+
Australia: Employment Rate by Disability Severity
ABS SDAC 2022 · Ages 15–64

75% of Americans with a disability are not in the labour force at all — compared to 32% without disability. In Australia, the unemployment rate for people with disability is more than double that of people without. These aren't rounding errors. They're structural exclusion.

02 — AI: Enabler and Barrier

AI is simultaneously the best tool and worst barrier
disabled workers have ever faced.

93%
of Fortune 500 CHROs are integrating AI into hiring — but only a third of employees know about it.
Gallup 2024
60%
increase in accessibility overlay-based lawsuits. 30% of federal/state accessibility lawsuits now involve overlays.
AFB 2025
30%
more productive — research suggests neurodivergent individuals outperform in appropriate roles. JPMorgan found 48% faster, up to 92% more productive.
Multiple sources
44%
decline in DEI-related job postings from mid-2022 to mid-2023. Disability programmes often housed within DEI are cut alongside it.
Industry data 2023
AI as enabler
  • Real-time meeting captioning built into Zoom, Teams, Meet
  • AI speech recognition for non-standard speech (Voiceitt)
  • Adaptive input via head movements and facial gestures (Cephable, Project Gameface)
  • Task breakdown and cognitive support for neurodivergent workers (Goblin Tools)
  • AI-powered accommodation discovery (Salesforce Retain)
  • Remote work — the biggest disability employment enabler in decades
AI as barrier
  • Video interview AI penalises atypical facial expressions, eye contact, speech
  • Resume screening algorithms penalise employment gaps
  • Gamified assessments screen out cognitive and motor differences
  • Productivity monitoring penalises assistive technology users
  • Proxy discrimination — AI infers disability from behaviour data
  • Accessibility overlays create false compliance (lawsuits up 60%)
03 — The Tech Sector

Tech has a disability data problem.
Most companies don't even count.

5.7%
of Microsoft's global workforce self-identify as having a disability — one of the only major tech companies to report this figure.
Microsoft D&I Report 2024
$29.8B
projected assistive technology market for learning disabilities by 2030. Open-source AI models may make development more affordable.
Market projection
1.3B
people globally experience significant disability — 16% of the world's population. This is not a niche market.
WHO

The curb-cut effect: Features designed for disabled users benefit everyone. AI meeting summaries, voice dictation, live captioning, text simplification — all started as accessibility tools, all now mainstream. Investing in accessibility is investing in better products.

04 — Regulatory Landscape

The rules are changing.
Some are disappearing.

AI hiring tools are being regulated globally — but unevenly. In the US, federal guidance was published and then removed. The underlying laws haven't changed. Employers remain liable for AI discrimination, even from third-party tools.

United States

EEOC AI+ADA guidance published May 2022, removed early 2025. ADA, Title VII, ADEA still apply. NYC, Colorado, California, Illinois passing state-level AI hiring laws.

European Union

EU AI Act classifies hiring AI as high-risk. European Accessibility Act (June 2025) requires WCAG 2.1 AA for digital services. GDPR provides right to explanation for automated decisions.

Australia

Disability Discrimination Act being updated. First empirical study of AI hiring in Australian recruitment published 2025 (Sheard). NDIS continues to shape assistive technology funding landscape.

Sources

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, People with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics – 2025

UK Office for National Statistics / DWP, The Employment of Disabled People 2025

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) 2022

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, People with Disability in Australia 2024

Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Disability 2022

Chemnad & Othman (2024), “Digital accessibility in the era of AI,” Frontiers in AI

Tilmes (2022), “Disability, fairness, and algorithmic bias in AI recruitment,” Ethics and Information Technology

American Foundation for the Blind (2025), overlay compliance data

Microsoft Diversity & Inclusion Report 2024

Gallup (2024), Fortune 500 CHRO AI adoption survey

National Disability Institute (2024), “The Intersection of Technology, Disability Rights and Worker Rights”

World Health Organization, global disability prevalence estimates

Data without context is noise.
A11y Signals adds the context.

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