For youth, parental support is critical in career planning or looking for a job. If your child has a disability, your role will depend on their specific support needs.
Knowing when to step up and when to step back can be hard. Let’s look at how you can help at different stages, potential barriers to be aware of, and resources that are available.
Note: In this article, the term “parents” includes parents and caregivers. The term “youth” refers to individuals aged 15 to 24, as defined by Statistics Canada.
Barriers to employment
Youth with disabilities face 5 levels of barriers to employment:
Societal barriers are caused by stereotypes. Youth with disabilities face the double barrier of ableism and ageism.
Ableism is the belief that people with disabilities are less capable and less valuable than “normal” people without disabilities.
Ageism is discrimination on the basis of age. It assumes that young people (or older people) are less competent.
Community barriers relate to access to resources such as public education, career counselling, and employment preparation programs. They can also include physical access barriers, such as buildings without elevators or ramps, and the lack of accessible transportation.
Institutional barriers result from organizational policies and practices. These can include discriminatory job application processes or a lack of workplace supports.
Interpersonal barriers result from interactions with people. Prejudice and lack of knowledge about people with disabilities can make employers reluctant to hire. Limited social and professional networks can make it hard for youth to find opportunities.
Individual barriers reflect feelings that can result from ableism and other types of discrimination. These can include hopelessness, discouragement, lack of confidence, or negative self-perception.
How involved should you be?
Well-meaning parents can have too much or too little involvement in youth’s career planning:
Parents can have incorrect assumptions about their children’s ability to work.
Youth with under-involved parents lack support and resources that would help them succeed.
Youth with over-involved parents are less confident, less independent in their job search, and less successful at finding work.
Parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and parents of women with disabilities are the most likely to be over-involved. Signs of this include:
Attend interviews with youth
Call employers on their behalf
Request that youth stay close to home
Overprotection can hurt youth’s chances of finding a job. It takes away their autonomy and can give employers the idea that they are not capable.
Read Aisha’s story to learn more about the barriers faced by youth with disabilities.
Check out these videos on how Jonathan’s and Andy’s parents helped them transition to adulthood.
A parent’s role begins early
Long before your child begins planning for employment, you can help lay 3 foundations for success: basic life skills, self-advocacy, and self-efficacy.
1. Basic life skills
It’s never too early to teach children the basic skills they’ll need to get a job and function in society. These include being honest and dependable, being on time, and having good manners and good hygiene. Make sure these skills are part of your child’s Individualized Program Plan.
Work on developing children’s soft skills too. Read about the 9 core skills the Government of Canada has identified as being critical for employment success.
The power of chores
Doing family chores can help youth develop the skills they’ll need for work. Doing chores requires negotiation, self-management, problem solving, learning to take direction, learning to be responsible, and having a positive attitude.
2. Self-advocacy
Self-advocacy means knowing how to speak up for yourself and ask for what you need.
Help youth learn about their disability and understand how it may affect them at school, at work, and in the community. Youth need to understand their disability so they can explain it to others and communicate their needs.
Talk openly about disability-related strengths and limitations. Let youth practise asking for help if they need it.
Self-advocacy also means teaching youth to solve their own problems. For example, if a youth with ADHD is frustrated about forgetting an assignment, help find systems or solutions that could help them remember.
3. Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the belief that you can do what you need to do to achieve what you want. Praise, motivation, and the experience of success help teach youth that they can overcome challenges and shape their own future.
To teach self-efficacy, help youth set realistic goals. Offer honest praise, recognize their strengths, and acknowledge their effort rather than their ability. Help them learn to deal with disappointment so they can figure out how to cope and adapt.
The 4 steps of career planning
Alis has many resources to support parents in coaching youth through the 4 steps of career planning.
Step 1: Learn about themselves
Parents can help youth identify what they’re good at, what they care about, and what working conditions they prefer. You can:
Keep track of your children’s interests so you can suggest avenues for them to explore.
Help them connect their passions to career possibilities and imagine their future. For example, if they love animals, visit a pet store, a vet clinic, or an animal rescue shelter. Talk about the kinds of work people do there.
Encourage them to focus on their interests, not their disability.
Provide social, recreational, and educational opportunities. This will help them identify their abilities and skills.
Consider having them work with a professional career counsellor who can guide the planning and discovery process.
Step 2: Explore their options
To help youth explore their options, you can:
Talk about your own career journey and share the lessons you learned.
Share your knowledge of workplace expectations and norms.
Encourage them to ask family and friends questions about their work.
Encourage them to explore a variety of jobs, internships, or work experience opportunities as early as possible. This will help them discover what they enjoy and what supports they might need to succeed in a workplace.
Encourage them to participate in the community. Volunteering provides a sense of connection and achievement. It’s an opportunity to build networks and make friends.
Step 3: Make decisions
Help youth choose a career path that reflects their goals and the realities of their situation. For example:
Help them set realistic goals and expectations.
Use your networks to help them arrange informational interviews and job-shadowing
Help them find supportive employers and workplaces.
Help them access funding and community resources.
Step 4: Take action
To support youth in taking action toward the career they want:
Help them make plans and follow the steps they need to complete them.
Help them stay motivated if they need to change course.
How to support a youth’s job search
Finding work
Youth should be in charge of deciding which jobs they want to apply for. But you can help them to:
Find industries and employers known to be inclusive of people with disabilities.
Explore opportunities for remote work. This can be more flexible and accessible.
Connect with recruitment agencies that specialize in helping people with disabilities find jobs.
Mentorship
Both informal and formal mentorship can help youth make better career planning decisions. Introduce youth to people in your personal and professional networks. Help them find mentors who can provide insights and advice to support their transition to adulthood.
Resumés, cover letters, and interviews
Help youth decide if, when, and how they will disclose their disability to employers. In resumés and cover letters, disabilities should be framed as assets if youth choose to disclose them. For example, youth who use assistive technology can present this as an adaptive skill that demonstrates resilience and problem solving.
Help youth plan how they will talk about their disability in a job interview. And help them practise what they will say.
The Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW) offers virtual reality sessions where youth can practise a variety of scenarios, including disclosing a disability to an employer and discussing accommodation.
The CCRW website also has videos, case studies, and employment success stories from Canadians with disabilities.
How to help with workplace issues
Transportation
Access to transportation can be an important factor in employment success. Parents can help youth investigate what transportation options are available and which are best for them. Public transportation can be challenging for neurodivergent youth and youth with mobility issues.
Accommodation
The Alberta Human Rights Act protects employees from unfair treatment and discrimination because of their disabilities. It imposes a duty to accommodate, which means employers must make every reasonable effort to provide what people need to do their job regardless of their disability.
As a parent, you can help youth understand their workplace rights. This includes identifying the types of accommodations available. You can also help them practise asking for the accommodations they need.
A relationship milestone
By taking the lead in their own career planning, youth can build confidence, purpose, and social connection. At the same time, by giving them the freedom to do so, you might discover a new role in your relationship—moving from advocate to mentor.