From equal access to employment to equal career opportunities? Employment practices and work experiences of qualified disabled workers in Japan

Abstract

In Japan, disability policies have significantly evolved over the last twenty years, be it in the field of social welfare, education or employment. Until recently, most workers with disabilities were employed in blue-collar jobs involving repetitive tasks. However, the reform of the education system that took place in 2006 has contributed to the development of mainstream schooling and improved the accessibility of universities for disabled students. Therefore, the number of students with disabilities in higher education is slowly increasing, as well as the number of people with disabilities holding a university degree, thus challenging the common representation of people with disabilities as unskilled workers. Yet, the academic literature on disabled people's employment has hardly investigated the specificities of the situation of qualified disabled workers. The case of people with disabilities holding a university degree or a professional qualification, is mainly discussed in terms of access, through the lens of the transition from university to employment. But what are the career patterns of qualified disabled workers on the long run? This paper aims to explore to what extent disability impact qualified disabled workers’ career development. It analyzes interview data collected during two fieldwork stays in Japan and discusses qualified disabled workers’ lived experiences of employment with a long-term perspective.