February 2026 Blog Post: Black History Month

Contributors for this post: Elmira Izadi, Michelle Willson, Rachel Bath

Black History Month is a time to honour the resilience, creativity, and leadership of Black communities in Canada, including Black persons with disabilities. This community has helped to shape Canada’s social and economic landscape, often while navigating systems that were not designed with them in mind. Yet their stories are not defined by barriers alone, but by persistence, ingenuity, and the strength of community.

Although it is critical that we learn from and support the vital work of Black voices in the community year-round, this Black History Month CCRW is highlighting the specific employment barriers Black persons with disabilities continue to face in Canada, while also recognizing their expertise and contributions across workplaces and communities. These barriers are not isolated challenges. They are the result of systems that have prized narrow ideas of who “belongs” at work. Despite these barriers, Black people with disabilities continue to pursue opportunities, build careers, contribute valuable skills across sectors, and offer models of community-led leadership that challenge workplaces to be more inclusive.

Voices in the Community

Let’s begin by highlighting organizations and initiatives that are leading the way in Black disability justice, intersectionality, and community-led approaches to access and work in Canada.

Ase Community Foundation for Black Canadians with Disabilities
A Black-led organization supporting Black Canadians with disabilities through advocacy, culturally responsive programming, and community-based initiatives that address systemic barriers.

Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO)
A cross-disability, anti-racist network advancing disability justice principles through organizing, public education, and policy advocacy.

Race & Disability Canada
A national initiative focused on research, policy engagement, and community collaboration at the intersection of race and disability, working to strengthen inclusive systems and evidence-based change.

Inclusion isn’t truly inclusive unless everyone is at the table and everyone belongs. This means that when we work towards Disability Justice, addressing anti-Black racism must be included from the start.

Pause and Reflect💡

Are we learning from Black disability-led organizations, not only as service providers, but as thought leaders?
Disability justice organizations offer critical insights into how work, productivity, care, and access can be reimagined beyond minimum standards.

When Finding Work Means Navigating Multiple Barriers

The search for employment can be overwhelming for many jobseekers. For Black persons with disabilities, it often involves navigating multiple layers of stigma and bias at the same time. Sometimes the impact of stigma and experiences of discrimination are easier to recognize while at other times they can be far more difficult to name. Obvious experiences of discrimination might be when a job candidate is told they are “not a good fit” because of their disability-related needs, or when they hear stereotype-based comments or slurs in an interview. Other experiences of discrimination are harder to callout, such as a resume being overlooked because the candidate’s name isn’t a traditionally “White” name, or job posts that include exclusionary requirements such as requiring a driver’s licence when the job doesn’t involve driving.

Navigating barriers to employment requires additional mental and emotional labour for many Black jobseekers with disabilities. Because of racial and disability-related biases, jobseekers with these identities often must work harder and show more proof of their abilities than White jobseekers without disabilities, who are frequently seen as more qualified from the start⁹.

Research in Canada has consistently shown that Black jobseekers face discrimination in hiring, including lower callback rates and unequal treatment during recruitment⁴. These dynamics are worsened by how disability and accommodation needs are interpreted during hiring. Human rights bodies report that racialized persons with disabilities are more likely to encounter skepticism, closer examination, or assumptions about competence when they disclose disability-related needs, increasing the risk of being screened out before skills can be assessed⁷.

None of these barriers reflect a lack of ambition, preparation, or talent. Black persons with disabilities bring strong qualifications, adaptability, and leadership shaped through lived experience. The barriers Black persons with disabilities in Canada face in finding work reflect hiring systems that were never designed to account for racial inequities and accessibility both separately and together. These issues are frequently addressed separately, like through anti-racism initiatives or accessibility initiatives. But bias and stigma related to race and disability intersect for racialized individuals, which means that Black persons with disabilities face unique barriers across different workplace experiences, including in recruitment and hiring and in seeking accommodations or supports in the workplace¹².

Pause and Reflect💡

Are we proactively identifying and removing barriers in our recruitment channels?
A proactive, barrier-removal recruitment process helps ensure that qualified candidates are not excluded simply because workplace processes weren’t designed with them in mind.

Barriers Don’t End at Hiring

For Black persons with disabilities who do enter the workplace in Canada, challenges often continue well beyond the onboarding stage.

Conventional definitions of productivity, availability, and “professionalism” tend to be rooted in White, traditional norms¹⁵. Disability-related needs such as flexible hours, for example to accommodate medical appointments, or assistive technologies, are frequently misinterpreted as signs of lower commitment or anticipated performance issues. Both workers with disabilities and Black employees do face disproportionate scrutiny around performance, especially once accommodation needs are introduced⁷,⁸,¹⁰,¹¹. For Black employees with disabilities, these racial and disability-related biases can reinforce each other, making the process of requesting accommodations feel even riskier³.

How workplaces handle accommodation requests can also create barriers. While policies may exist, access often depends on the choices or discretion of managers. Studies and human rights reporting suggest that racialized employees may face greater uncertainty or delays when seeking accommodations, reinforcing unequal access to workplace support⁷. This can leave employees without the supports they need at different stages of the employment life cycle, which can prevent them from bringing or being their best selves at work.

Pause and Reflect💡

How do we define “professionalism” and productivity?
Outcome-focused performance measures allow for flexibility while maintaining industry standards by focusing on the quality and results of work. This could look like evaluating employees based on meeting deliverables or client outcomes, instead of rigid schedules or visible “face time”.

Underemployment, Precarity, and Limited Choice

Black persons are more likely to experience underemployment, particularly those whose credentials or work histories were obtained outside Canada⁴,¹⁴. The jobs available to many Black persons with disabilities do not always reflect their experience, education, or goals.

Precarious roles, such as temporary, part-time, or contract positions are frequently the most accessible options. Yet these jobs are also the least likely to offer flexibility, access to benefits, or formal accommodation processes¹³. This can mean constantly weighing health needs against income security, with no one to ask for support. These added constraints and instability can make it harder to build long-term financial security or to advance in a career, as they limit opportunities for professional growth and leadership development². It also means missing out on workplace benefits that can support wellbeing. When talented workers remain concentrated in precarious roles, organizations miss out on their full potential, and inequities in income, security, and advancement are reinforced.

When someone’s strengths and talent aren’t recognized in their employment, work can become something to endure rather than a sustainable foundation or a true reflection of your connection and contribution to your community and to society. Making sure that pathways into stable and safe employment are accessible to Black persons with disabilities is essential to building a labor market that is inclusive and sustainable¹⁶.

Pause and Reflect💡

Do our career development and advancement practices support Black persons with disabilities in moving into meaningful roles?

Meaningful work requires ensuring that career opportunities are accessible and inclusive. Inequitable pathways into employment turns unemployment into a structural outcome.

The Cost of Exclusion Is Not Abstract

Over time, the strain of navigating racism, ableism, and constant self-monitoring can lead to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and affect long-term participation in the workforce⁵. People with disabilities in Canada are more likely to report unmet accommodation needs, and unmet needs are associated with poorer employment outcomes and job retention¹³,¹⁴. When talented and qualified workers step back or leave roles where they are not fully supported, the loss is not due to their ability or a lack of ambition. It is due to systems that fail to recognize and sustain their contributions.

For employers, this exclusion represents more than lost talent, increased recruitment costs, and missed opportunities for innovation. It can also mean the loss of diverse perspectives, knowledge, and lived expertise that can help strengthen organizations. For workplaces committed to equity, this also represents a chance to do better by building more inclusive and accessible workplaces.

Inclusive employment is not only about getting people in the door. It is about supporting employees so they can stay, grow, and thrive once they are there. Inclusive employment means we are building workplaces where Black workers with disabilities are not just included, but valued and empowered.

Pause and Reflect💡

Are managers equipped to support diverse experiences of work?
Ongoing training on disability inclusion and anti-racism helps move inclusion from policy to practice⁶.

Learning from Black Disability-Led Leadership

While most employers play a critical role in redesigning hiring and workplace systems, some of the most meaningful leadership on inclusion, accessibility, and equity has long come from Black, disability-led communities and organizations. Across Canada and beyond, Black advocates, organizers, and community leaders have not only identified gaps in existing systems. They have actively imagined and built blueprints for alternatives that are rooted in inclusivity and care.

Disability justice frameworks, developed by Black, Indigenous, and racialized activists, move beyond compliance-based approaches to inclusion. They emphasize interdependence, access as a shared responsibility, leadership by those most impacted, and the understanding that racism, ableism, and economic exclusion are interconnected¹. These frameworks challenge workplaces to think differently about what it means to be productive and successful at work, by framing productivity and success as collective commitments, not rigid standards.

For employers, engaging with Black disability-led leadership is not about outsourcing responsibility. It is about listening, learning, and recognizing where expertise already exists, and approaching inclusion as a partnership grounded in listening and respect. Black workers with disabilities in Canada have long been innovators in rethinking access and community care¹. There is already much to learn from their work.

Looking Forward

Black History Month is a time to name systemic barriers and honour presence, contribution, and possibility. It is a time to celebrate Black persons with disabilities in Canada as leaders, innovators, and community builders whose work continues to shape Canada’s future. They have always been part of this country’s workforce and community life, shaping spaces through resilience, creativity, and leadership, even when systems have failed to recognize them.

Building inclusive workplaces means moving beyond representation toward recognition. When employers listen to Black communities, including Black persons with disabilities, and redesign systems with their leadership at the centre, workplaces become stronger, more equitable, and more innovative for everyone.

References

1. Anderson, J. M. (2020). The Intersection of Blackness & Disability in Canada. https://humber.ca/peoples-and-culture/assets/files/human_rights/Black-Canadians_Disability25.06.20%20(1).pdf
2. Arday, J. (2022). ‘More to prove and more to lose’: race, racism and precarious employment in higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 43(4), 513–533. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2022.2074375
3. Baker, K. (2024, June 27). Accessibility and Inclusion in the workplace: A focus on Black Americans. Baker Consulting. https://www.thebakerconsulting.com/post/accessibility-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace-a-focus-on-black-americans
4. Block, S., Galabuzi, G., & Tranjan, R. (2019, December). Canada’s colour coded income inequality. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/attachments/Canada%27s%20Colour%20Coded%20Income%20Inequality.pdf
5. Dalexis, R. (2026). Racial Discrimination at Work and Health of Canadian Workers: A Mixed Methods Study. In University of Ottawa. https://ruor.uottawa.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/34e4fa17-9a35-4306-9064-014a50fee173/content
6. Muscular Dystrophy Canada. (2023). Disability Inclusion Action Plan. In Muscular Dystrophy Canada. https://muscle.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/517015135-diap-executive-summary_envfinal.pdf
7. Ontario Human Rights Commission. (n.d.). Discrimination based on disability and the duty to accommodate: Information for service providers. https://www3.ohrc.on.ca/en/discrimination-based-disability-and-duty-accommodate-information-service-providers
8. Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2016). Preventing and responding to discrimination. https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-ableism-and-discrimination-based-disability/11-preventing-and-responding-discrimination
9. Pitre, M. (2025). The Intersection of Blackness & Disability in Canada. NBCPD. https://www.nbcpd.org/the-intersection-of-blackness-disability-in-canada-report-by-jheanelle-m-anderson/
10. Robotham, K., & Jacobs, B. (2025). Performance feedback and support crucial for retaining Black employees. Catalyst. https://assets.catalyst.org/2535214a-bbfb-48b8-b5a9-b33300d04848_article-pdf_2025_en-us_insights-2025-retain-black-employees_Originalfile.pdf
11. SHRM. (2024, February 12). Black employees discuss effects of hostile work environments. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/inclusion-diversity/black-employees-discuss-effects-of-hostile-work-environments
12. Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights. (2023). Anti-Black racism, sexism and systemic discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Commission. In Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights. https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/441/RIDR/Reports/Report_SS-1_CHRC_e.pdf
13. Statistics Canada. (2025a, February 10). Accessibility barriers related to employment among persons with disabilities or long-term conditions, 2024. The Daily. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250210/dq250210c-eng.htm
14. Statistics Canada. (2025b, September 22). Labour market outcomes of the Black populations in Canada, 2020 to 2025. The Daily. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250922/dq250922c-eng.htm
15. Velarde, M. R. (2018). Indigenous perspectives of disability. Disability Studies Quarterly, 38(4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v38i4.6114
16. Zhong, M., & Shetty, T. (2021). Diversity, equity and inclusion in responsive career pathways. In Blueprint & Future Skills Centre. https://fsc-ccf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FSC-RCP-DEI-EN.pdf