The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and people with mental retardation

Self-perceived equal opportunities for people with intellectual disability

Despite a growing awareness of the need to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities, little is known about the self-perceived employment opportunities for people with intellectual disability. This study adopted a qualitative approach to examine the issue of 'equalization of employment opportunities' with 18 young working adults with mild intellectual disability who participated in in-depth interviews. Content analysis and a constant comparative method were adopted for data analysis. Our findings revealed that having employment was regarded as being very important by all participants, and 17 participants had had both positive and negative employment experiences, which were mainly related to the workplace interpersonal relationships and the attitude of employers and co-workers. Eight participants might have experienced discrimination at work when employers and co-workers had misconceptions about people with intellectual disability. This study suggested that strategies such as equal opportunities education, natural support from employers and co-workers and disability education for the general public should be adopted to enable people with intellectual disability to have full participation in employment and social integration.