Here, in Atlanta where it’s hotter than hot and the Georgia peaches are sweet, schools will open their doors to students in about a month. This will mark my 3rd year not on a college campus after retiring from over two decades in disability services.  I began my career in academic research, studying accessibility in the workplace then,  my final 15 years providing direct services to students with disabilities. Yet, a nagging thought remains: did I do enough to prepare my students with disabilities for the real world?  Did I do my part in bridging the disability employment gap?

As someone who also navigates the world with a disability, I’ve experienced firsthand the significant gap between academic support and real-world readiness.

We were absolute pros at getting them through college, but when it came to the actual job part of life? Crickets. Seriously, we prepped them for the pop quiz, but totally left them hanging for the job interview.  We were all about that quiet exam room, but totally forgot to teach them how to tell a corporate HR rep, “Hey, I need this thing, and no, it’s not a pillow for napping during meetings.” The skills for acing finals are apparently not the same ones you need to, you know, pay rent.

Think about it: in college, disability services offices were basically their personal army, handling all the awkward “can I have this?” stuff. But in the real world, suddenly it’s on them to figure out how to say, “My disability is actually a superpower, but I still need an adjustable-height desk, please and thank you.”

Things like self-advocacy (a fancy word for “speaking up for yourself without sounding like a whiner”), disclosure (the ultimate “when do I drop this bombshell?” question), and understanding workplace culture (a.k.a., “why does everyone here love fluorescent lights and passive-aggressive emails?”) were completely off our syllabus.

• Self-advocacy at work is basically saying, “I’m awesome, I have rights, and let’s find a solution that works for both of us, instead of just handing me a pre-fab ‘accommodation’ that probably involves a beanbag chair.”
• Disclosure? Oh, that’s fun. It’s the whole “do I tell them before the interview, during, or just hope they don’t notice when I accidentally wheel into the CEO’s office?” debate. Spoiler alert: there’s no magic answer.
• Workplace culture is about learning the secret handshake, figuring out why Rachel from accounting always brings tuna fish for lunch, and somehow still managing to be a productive human while dealing with a disability. It’s like fitting a square peg into a round hole, but the peg is also doing calculus.

These students, by the way, are the future. They’re smart, they’re talented, and they deserve to be fully armed for the professional jungle, not just the academic one. If we don’t fix this, we’re basically sending them into battle with a calculator when they need a laser pointer.

So, who’s responsible for this gap? 

• Parents: Yes, children with disabilities grow up to be adults. Parents of these kids need to ensure their child knows how to explain their disability as well as self-advocate.
• Higher Ed: Stop just checking boxes. Start teaching them how to survive a job interview, how to talk about their disability without making the hiring manager squirm, and maybe even introduce them to employers who actually want to hire people with disabilities (gasp!).
• Career Services: You guys are practically sitting on a goldmine of opportunity. Learn how to actually help disabled students, not just give them generic resume tips. Mock interviews where they practice saying, “Yes, I use a wheelchair, no, it’s not a prop for Halloween,” would be a start.
• Employers: Get your act together. Make your applications accessible (it’s 2025, people!), have clear policies, and for the love of all that is good, create a place where employees feel safe enough to actually ask for what they need. And mentorship? Seriously, it’s like a cheat code for navigating the corporate maze.

If all 4 of the moving parts work together then bridging the disability employment gap will become less cumbersome.

My journey from “disability services guru” to “Wheelchair Daddy” has only made me realize this even more: preparing people with disabilities for jobs isn’t just a nice idea; it’s absolutely non-negotiable. It’s about letting them unleash their full potential and making the workforce a whole lot cooler with their unique awesomeness.

So, spill the tea. What are your thoughts? Join me over on Instagram and  join  the conversation @wheelchairdaddy!