Our Objectives
Advance working-age employment rates through our national Ready, Willing & Able initiative, meeting or exceeding all targets.
Secure funding to sustain and grow the Ready, Willing & Able initiative for a further five-year period, beyond 2027.
Advance youth employment through delivery of the Overcoming Barriers – Creating Success initiative, meeting or exceeding all targets.
Secure funding to transform and/or close sheltered work programs, and transition to programs that enable real work for real pay.
Why It Matters
There are approximately 500,000 working-age people with an intellectual disability in Canada – but only 1 in 4 are employed.
Among all people with disabilities, people with an intellectual disability experience the highest rate of unemployment and are the least likely to be employed.
Even though people with an intellectual disability are ready, willing, and able to work in meaningful jobs and careers, many are still confined to sheltered work settings. These are places where people with disabilities are separated from co-workers without disabilities and do not get paid equally for the work they do. Many places in Canada still have employment laws that allow people with intellectual disabilities to be paid less than minimum wage.
Our Vision
People with an intellectual disability are employed at the same rate as the general population.
How You Can Help
Inclusion Canada hosts free, 35-minute Inclusion Matters Tours to raise awareness of Inclusion Canada’s work toward building an inclusive Canada for people with an intellectual disability and their families.
Our Work
What We're Doing
Inclusion Canada is increasing the number of people with an intellectual disability or autism who are hired and retained in the competitive labour market through our national partnership initiative Home - Ready, Willing & Able (readywillingable.ca) (RWA).
We’re expanding the reach of RWA to more communities in Canada, making support for inclusive employment accessible to more employers and employees. We’re also partnering with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) youth organizations to build community capacity and promote diverse and inclusive workforces.
We’re helping employers, governments, employment agencies, and the public adopt attitudes, policies, and practices that support the full inclusion of people with an intellectual disability at work.
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