Host Patrick McCarthy interviews Sheri Mahar, executive director of Community Integration Services Society ( CISS ) which operates in Port Coquitlam and North Vancouver in British Columbia.

The mandate of CISS is to help individuals who may be struggling with developmental disabilities to become active members of their own community through a variety of community inclusion programs. CISS  not only provides support service for those already looking for employment by helping with writing resumes and practicing interview techniques, they also help by providing training opportunities and help to match their clients with the right employers and employment opportunity to suit their particular disability or challenge.

CISS clients have found employment in a variety of fields including food preparation, baking, gardening, computer programming / repair, customer service, banking, office work, cleaning and more.

Developmental disabilities occur among all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. Recent estimates in the United States show that about one in six, or about 17%, of children aged 3 through 17 years have one or more developmental disabilities, such as ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, intellectual disability, learning disability, vision impairment and other developmental delays.

According to the 2012 Canadian Survey on Disability, a total of 2,338,300 individuals met the criteria for disability in one or more categories. This is equivalent to 10.08% of 15–64 years old Canadians ( no significant difference was found between men and women ). The overall rate of disabilities increased substantially with age, rising from 4.4% among the 15–24 years olds to 16.1% among the 45–64 year olds.

In contrast to other disabilities, the proportion of labour force participation (employed and unemployed) of persons with Developmental Disabilities (34.5%) is the lowest of any other disability category (63.4%). The employment rate of working-age adults with a Developmental Disabilities was less than a third of the rate for people without a disability (73.6%), (Bizier et al., 2015).

Of those with Developmental Disabilities, persons identifying with ASD had a lower labour force participation rate of 21.5%, meaning that 78.5% were not in the labour force. For those who were employed, weekly hours of paid work for Developmental Disabilities (27.1% respectively) are lower than other disabilities (45.2%). Notably, employment rates for CP (18.9%) and ASD (14.3%) and the weekly hours of paid work of those with CP (18.8%) and ASD (16.1%) were lower than the average for Developmental Disabilities. The mean wage earnings among persons with Developmental Disabilities is $16,500 whereas this average is higher for CP ($18,700) and lower for ASD ($6700). However, this income data follows a right skewed distribution with half of persons with Developmental Disabilities having income below $2300 (median wage earnings). This median was lower for CP ($1800) and higher for ASD ($2900).