This thesis begins by examining a recent report commissioned by the Federal Government of Canada, entitled Rethinking disability in the Private Sector, which stated that almost 795,000 people with disabilities who are of working age, and are both willing and able to work, are not employed. If businesses are willing to hire people with disabilities, as the report states, why are so many still not involved in the labor force? The thesis then goes on to examine the following questions: What are the barriers to employment faced by people with disabilities? Why are these barriers still present? What aspects of the social system create these barriers? What is being done to allow more people with disabilities to enter the workforce? What more can be done to eliminate the stigma, marginalization and normalization that people with disabilities continuously face to allow them greater access to the workforce?
