Inclusive employment in Quebec: a case study of four members of the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society

March 18, 2024

Inclusive employment: a priority for the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society (SQDI)

As part of the 36th edition of Quebec Intellectual Disability Week, the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society (SQDI) is publishing a study on inclusive employment in Quebec!

Inclusive employment for persons with an intellectual disability or autism is increasingly being discussed in Quebec, and is a priority for the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society.

Through its Ready, Willing and Able program and other initiatives, the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society has long sought to promote the employment potential of persons with intellectual disabilities. The SQDI wants to make sure it enables them to find a job. Yet little is known about the situation in the province.

A study on what’s happening in the community

To better understand what’s happening in the real world, the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society collaborated with a team of researchers from McGill University.

Thanks to funding from the Ready, Willing and Able program, the research team was able to visit and study the activities of four members organizations of the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society who offer employability or pre-employability services to persons with an intellectual disability or autism.

These four members are :

Key findings to inform the Quebec Intellectual Disability Society’s (SQDI) efforts to advance inclusive employment.

The results of this case study highlight a number of avenues for the creation, development and long-term sustainability of inclusive employment programs for persons with intellectual disabilities or autism.

The research report also suggests courses of action and demands that the SQDI could make to the Quebec government. These suggestions and demands will be included in the organization’s advocacy efforts to ensure that persons with intellectual disabilities are more fully included in the workforce, and to better support their families and the organizations that provide employability services.