An initiative conceived by a young Caribbean disability advocate has developed into a regional campaign urging governments, employers and other stakeholders to remove barriers preventing persons with disabilities from accessing employment.
The HireAbility Campaign, launched on August 27 under the theme “Break Barriers. Embrace Inclusion. Champion Rights,” brings together United Nations Country Teams, governments, employers, organisations of persons with disabilities, young people and development partners across the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.
The campaign was first proposed by Zinzee Noel, a youth advocate and Grenada’s representative on the UN Youth Advisory Group, as an initiative focused on inclusive hiring. With support from the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, the idea has since expanded into a regional campaign focused on employment opportunities and workplace inclusion for persons with disabilities.
Noel said the campaign is intended to shift the conversation away from disability as a limitation and toward the abilities and contributions of persons with disabilities.
“HireAbility is a campaign that challenges us to look beyond disability and see ability, potential, experience, and contribution. Across the Caribbean, persons with disabilities are studying, building businesses, creating art, leading organizations, advocating for changes, raising families, and contributing to their communities every day. Yet too often, barriers in our workplaces prevent those talents from being recognized and those contributions from being fully realized, and that is why this conversation matters.”
For the International Labour Organization (ILO), the campaign provides an opportunity to address disability inclusion as a matter of labour rights, equality and participation in the economy rather than charity.
Thomas Kring, Deputy Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, said access to employment must be viewed within the framework of fundamental rights.
“Access to decent work is not charity. It is about rights, dignity, equality and economic participation as enshrined in international legal frameworks. Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes the right to work on an equal basis with others.”
ILO data point to significant disparities in employment between persons with and without disabilities. Globally, labour-force participation among persons with disabilities is around 30 per cent lower than among persons without disabilities, while young persons with disabilities are twice as likely to be outside employment, education or training.
An ILO study published in 2024 also identified an average hourly wage gap of 12 per cent among employees with disabilities across the countries included in its wage analysis.
Kring said the figures demonstrate that qualifications and talent alone do not eliminate structural barriers to employment.
“These global findings are a reminder that talent alone does not remove barriers. Employers, institutions and policy-makers all have a role in ensuring that recruitment, skills development and workplace systems are designed to include.”
The campaign is also linked to international labour standards addressing discrimination and equality in employment. ILO Convention No. 111 identifies the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation as a fundamental principle and right at work, while Convention No. 159 promotes equality of opportunity and treatment for persons with disabilities in vocational rehabilitation and employment.
A major component of the campaign is the Disability Inclusive Employer Pledge, through which participating businesses and employers commit publicly to improving recruitment and workplace practices.
Three employers have so far signed the pledge: Carenage Bay Holding Ltd. in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Runman Belize Corporation, and Grenada Co-operative Bank Limited in St. George’s, Grenada.
The launch was followed by a disability-inclusion sensitisation session featuring technical contributions from the ILO and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The campaign is scheduled to continue through December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, providing opportunities for employers and other stakeholders across the region to translate commitments into changes in recruitment, skills development and workplace practices.
The regional initiative comes against a broader international backdrop in which disability inclusion in employment remains a challenge despite legal protections recognising the right of persons with disabilities to work on an equal basis with others.
For the organisers, the focus of HireAbility is therefore not simply on bringing more persons with disabilities into workplaces, but on addressing the practices and barriers that can prevent qualified people from entering, remaining and advancing in employment.
