Making Space
for Disabled
Talent.

The gap is a systems problem.

For an individual, being locked out of work means rationing medication, declining promotions to stay under benefit cliffs, and watching career trajectories flatten in their twenties. In aggregate, it means a labor pool the size of a continent operating below its capacity, and the trillion-dollar consumer market attached to it under-served by the products and services built without it.

Four root causes.

Most well-meaning interventions target one of these in isolation. They don't compound because the others remain.

1. 01

   The benefits cliff

   Federal disability benefits are means-tested with asset caps as low as $2,000. Taking a job, even a good one, can mean losing the healthcare and personal care that make work possible. Most jobseekers, employers, and even benefits counselors can't model the math, so people opt out before they ever apply.

2. 02

   Employer infrastructure gap

   ATS systems, interview formats, onboarding, and accommodations processes were designed without Disabled people in mind. Inclusion lives in DEI as awareness training and stays out of the HR ops layer where hiring, retention, and promotion infrastructure are actually built. Individual goodwill rarely translates into durable change.

3. 03

   Information asymmetry & bias

   Disabled candidates lack signal about which employers are safe to disclose to, and employers lack signal about which candidates are qualified. The result is mutual avoidance: under-applying on one side, under-sourcing on the other, with bias filling the gap.

4. 04

   No coordination layer

   Vocational rehab, workforce boards, employer HR teams, benefits counselors, and Disabled-led orgs all touch the same person but rarely share infrastructure. There is no system-level operator stitching readiness, access, and economic safety into a single pathway.

One full-lifecycle system.

Employer systems change funds free, fully accessible tools for Disabled people, so progress compounds on both sides of the labor market.

1. 01

   Employer systems change

   We embed disability inclusion across the full employee lifecycle: auditing physical and digital workplaces, training recruiters, managers, and executives, modernizing accommodations processes, and opening a direct pipeline to vetted Disabled talent from our 50K+ community. Companies implement durable infrastructure: ATS-integrated sourcing, role-specific manager training with completion and impact data, accessibility reviews on products and spaces, and ongoing policy and culture advisory.

   +

   • → ATS integrations (Greenhouse, Workday, Lever)
   • → Manager & recruiter training with completion & impact data
   • → Physical & digital accessibility audits
   • → Accommodations process redesign
   • → Targeted role campaigns to a 50K+ candidate pool
   • → Policy, accommodations, and culture advisory
2. 02

   Opportunities board & community

   A free, fully accessible Opportunities Board and peer community for Disabled professionals. It's the front door most career platforms fail to build. Every employer listed is vetted and trained by Making Space on disability inclusion, so jobseekers apply with real confidence they'll be set up to succeed once they land the role. AI matching translates lived experience into transferable skills, and peer spaces connect members with others navigating the same systems.

   +

   • → Every employer vetted & trained on disability inclusion
   • → Free for every Disabled jobseeker, forever
   • → AI job-matching trained on lived experience
   • → Peer community & mentorship spaces
   • → Screen-reader–first, keyboard-navigable, low-bandwidth
3. 03

   Free accessible education

   On-demand learning for Disabled people: technical skills, soft skills, and self-advocacy. Every course ships with accessibility built in from day one: ASL interpretation learners can toggle on or off, captions, transcripts, customization, compatibility with assistive technology and plain-language summaries.

   → See the full course library

   +

   • → Technical skills, soft skills & self-advocacy
   • → ASL toggle on every video
   • → Captions, transcripts & plain-language summaries
   • → Self-paced, mobile-friendly, no cost
4. 04

   Safe-to-Earn benefits navigation

   A free navigator that helps Disabled people take jobs, raise wages, and save real money without losing healthcare or cash benefits. The navigator models the SSI/SSDI asset limits, SGA cliff, work incentives, and ABLE accounts as the statutory shelter that lets wages and savings grow without triggering benefit loss.

   → See the full Safe-to-Earn section

   +

   • → ABLE-account guidance
   • → SSI/SSDI work-incentive modeling
   • → $1,620/mo SGA cliff coaching
   • → Plain-language explanations

Reach is the audience. Impact is what changed for them.

We measure what matters most for economic mobility: projected lifetime earnings increase, employment placement rates, and benefit-to-cost ratio. Alongside these outcomes, we track enterprise training reach and community engagement as signals of ecosystem influence.

Reach

The audience we've earned.

Impact

Unpacking the $220M projected lifetime economic impact.

The number is a sum of four measurable streams. Each line below is auditable, hover or tap to see the cross-system outcome it maps to, then jump to the full outcome list.

Methodology available on request

What specifically changed across the full system.

Most disability inclusion reporting is program-by-program. Ours rolls up: a single view of outcomes for the individuals we serve, the employers we change, and the field we're trying to build.

Benefits to Work. A clearer path.

The same programs that prevent destitution (SSI, SSDI, Medicaid) also create the steepest disincentives to work in U.S. social policy. Recipients are forced to choose survival over mobility. Our navigator closes that gap, walking Disabled Americans up the economic ladder: onto the safety net, up within it, and, when they're ready, off it into lasting employment.

The three-stage ladder

1. 01 · Get on

   Help eligible Disabled adults access the SSI, SSDI, Medicaid, and ABLE supports they're entitled to but often never reach. That is the foundational floor of economic stability.

2. 02 · Earn while protected

   Coach recipients on ABLE accounts as the statutory shelter that lets wages and savings grow tax-free without breaching the asset limit, alongside the SGA cliff and work incentives. ABLE is the single most powerful, underused tool here, and where almost no consumer product exists today.

3. 03 · Transition off

   For those whose earnings and stability allow it, route into Making Space's accessible training and vetted Opportunities Board, where every employer is trained by us on disability inclusion (Microsoft, Salesforce, Walmart, Lionsgate, Coca-Cola, Red Bull), so recipients step into roles where they're set up to thrive.

Why the gap exists

• $2,000 SSI asset trap

  Asset limit unchanged since 1989. Save a dollar past the threshold and risk losing cash and Medicaid overnight.

• $1,620/mo SGA cliff

  Earn above SSDI's Substantial Gainful Activity threshold consistently after the trial work period and benefits end.

• Fragmented navigation

  WIPA runs ~80–90 projects nationally with multi-year waitlists. VR caseworkers carry 200–500 clients each.

• Inaccessible portals

  A 2024 audit found zero of 50 state government websites fully meet DOJ ADA Title II accessibility standards.

In the words of the people we serve.

Real outcomes from Disabled professionals in our community.

Success Stories

Success Story

01 / 04

Marcus Reyes & a public library

One Fellow. One employer. From 4 years unemployed to Programs Coordinator.

Meet Marcus

Marcus, 34, has a master's in library science and once dreamed of running children's reading programs. Then a car accident severed his spinal cord at C6. He woke up in a body he didn't recognize, in a career everyone quietly assumed was over. For 4 years he sent out 180 applications. He got 11 interviews. Zero offers. He watched former classmates get promoted while he rationed groceries on $1,097 a month in SSDI. He stopped telling people he was a librarian. He started saying he "used to be one."

The scariest part was the math. Save more than $2,000 and he'd lose Medicaid — the insurance keeping him alive, his wheelchair maintained, his catheters stocked. So he didn't save. He didn't plan. He didn't let himself want anything bigger than getting through the month. "I felt like I was being punished for surviving," he said.

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• 01

  "Making Space gave me confidence to pursue and obtain my first full time job in 3 and a half years. I applied in January and started in February. I had given up on hope of ever finding a job and filed for disability mid last year. I just withdrew my claim, which personally was a great feeling. The webinars have been so helpful, relevant and validating. I have the tools to manage this and to advocate for myself."

  Kelly Kimball

  Landed her first full-time job in 3.5 years and withdrew her disability claim.

• 02

  "Since starting Making Space, I was promoted at work, I signed on a huge client, I stopped doing unpaid work, and I focused my goals. I applied to a graduate program in Disability Advocacy. Ascend helped me see that there is a career in disability. I have a future, I just hadn't been encouraged to find it yet. I found pride. I set goals. And I am so grateful for it."

  Ray Antonison

  Promoted, signed a major client, applied to grad school in disability advocacy.

• 03

  "The Ascend program taught me about ABLE accounts, gave me the confidence to re-enter the workforce with newly-acquired leadership and professional skills, and helped lead me to resources I will use to apply for SSDI benefits."

  Breanna Perera

  Re-entered the workforce with new leadership skills + ABLE and SSDI pathways.

• 04

  "I really loved and appreciated the program and everything Making Space has to offer. I learned a lot about accommodations (the playbook is incredible) and I was even able to land a job that will work for my needs since joining the program."

  Tori Simpson

  Landed a job that fits her access needs.

• 05

  "Ascend helped me through my accommodation meeting with my employer. I was so thankful to have an experienced partner by my side. With my previous employer, I was shocked and unprepared to advocate for myself."

  Kimberly Miller

  Walked into an accommodations meeting prepared, with a partner beside her.

• 06

  "The program manager gave me a level of compassion and engagement that I had desperately needed at one of the lowest points in my life. She helped me make a very tough job decision that would have been unimaginable to make alone. Without your hard work, passion, and care during an extremely low point in my life, it would have been a long and lonely road trying to rebuild myself."

  V Garcia

  1:1 support through a turning-point career decision.

• 07

  "Making Space gave me the exact language I needed to advocate for my needs at work."

  Kindra Cantrell

  Language to self-advocate at work.

• 08

  "Finding community, with people who have had similar struggles due to disability, has been a very positive and inspiring experience. I've learned so much."

  Alva Cardona

  Community as outcome.

Let's make space together.