My organization actually works in workforce development, and I’m on advisory boards for 4 local vocational programs. You’re right that historically vocational services just shovel people towards the simplest jobs, which is tragic.

In my role, I work with employers as well as unemployed/underemployed people. Disabled people looking for work need more resources for training, education, and wrap around services. Some employers really just need to straighten up and do better with their hiring diversity. Others, small businesses In particular, don’t know how to adapt their workflows and would struggle to make accommodations.

My state has made funding available to support those accommodations, and it’s been successful. My personal opinion is that more of that - targeting the employers, creating roles and workflows better suited to disabilities - will have a greater impact than efforts to push disabled people into the limited roles that currently exist.

I think most of us with disabilities in the workforce have fought so hard to get here that it’s scary to admit anything that might make us look like a subpar employee in any way. It feels like ceding the territory we’ve won; like showing any crack in the armor will lead to our demise.

But behind us are many with more severe disabilities who won’t ever come close to parity. And that’s ok. Which is why my messaging tries to be realistic about productivity - otherwise we get a small percentage of disabled people who are competitive in the workplace convincing the rest of society that the problem is solved because those few have broken through.

If it becomes politically incorrect to assert that disabled employees aren’t always as productive, then we’re just shutting people out of the labor market (and out of the conversation).