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A new, multi-year national initiative has been launched to help the country’s construction and manufacturing employers rethink how they go about recruiting, hiring and supporting youth with disabilities – by redesigning systems in a workplace rather than trying to fix the individual.

The program is specifically aimed at assisting employers retool their systems to better include neurodiverse youth, youth with intellectual disabilities and youth with mental health challenges.

These groups continue to face high levels of unemployment and underemployment despite having the skills and interest to succeed in well-paid, long-term careers.

The project, known as For Diverse Youth (4DY), is being led by Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA) in partnership with the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources (CIRHR) at the University of Toronto. It is funded through the federal Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, with $4.44 million over 38 months, running until March 2028.

“In the past, the focus has been on skilling up workers, getting them job ready,” explains Andrew Dixon, senior research officer at the University of Toronto. “Yet they often struggle to secure employment, particularly well-paying career jobs.”

Youth with disabilities are often funnelled into low-wage service jobs, he notes, despite having the skills and interest to pursue careers in the skilled trades or manufacturing. At the same time, both of those sectors continue to grapple with labour shortages and an aging workforce.

The 4DY initiative seeks to change the narrative by reframing disability inclusion as a workplace systems design issue – much like occupational health and safety, productivity or quality management – rather than as an accommodation challenge addressed on a case-by-case basis.

The project combines applied research and on-the-ground piloting to develop practical, evidence-informed tools employers can use in real-world settings. More than a dozen partner organizations from industry, labour, employment services and the disability community are involved in shaping and testing the approach.

Among the project’s early deliverables is a systems-level framework designed to integrate a disability-inclusion lens across core organizational functions, from recruitment and hiring to onboarding, supervision, mentorship and advancement.

Building on that framework, the team is developing and piloting a “pulse-check” questionnaire that will allow organizations to assess their current level of disability confidence and equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility maturity. The tool is intended to help firms identify priority areas for improvement, establish baselines and track progress over time.

To support that work, the project team is also creating a national web portal, a virtual library of employer-focused tools and resources. Existing inclusion tools will be scanned, appraised and catalogued using a standardized framework, while gaps in practice will inform the development of new resources. The portal will feature a navigational overlay co-designed with employers and other workplace stakeholders to ensure it is practical and easy to use.

The initiative is anchored at CIRHR and brings together expertise from IDEA, Youth Employment Services (YES), the Autism Alliance of Canada and Inclusion Canada’s Ready, Willing and Able program.

Two other leads on the initiative were Dr. Emile Tompa, executive director of IDEA and a senior scientist at the Institute for Work & Health, and Dr. Rafael Gomez, director of the CIRHR.

Although the project is still in its early stages, Dixon said initial engagement from employers has been strong, particularly in construction and manufacturing.

“While it is still early for formal outcome metrics, engagement to date indicates that employers and other workplace stakeholders value the program’s practical, systems-focused approach to creating sustainable change and our emphasis on solutions that align with operational realities.”

Early insights from construction employers suggest relatively modest adjustments can make a meaningful difference. Clearer and more consistent communication, predictable supervision practices and building flexibility into task assignments where possible can help create environments where a broader range of workers can succeed.

The project team is also surveying skilled trades post-secondary and apprenticeship programs to better understand how training pathways can support youth with disabilities and connect them more effectively to inclusive employers.

Partnerships are central to the initiative’s strategy.

IDEA’s senior engagement and partnerships officer Krys Munnings is working with industry, labour and community organizations to expand the network of stakeholders involved in piloting and championing the tools.

Dixon believes the opportunity is significant, not just for youth with disabilities, but for industries under pressure to modernize and diversify their workforce.

“Youth with disabilities are the untapped opportunity,” he says. “We know that today’s youth are interested in skilled trades and manufacturing careers but are screened out by systems not designed with inclusion in mind. By redesigning workplace systems rather than excluding capable workers, these industries can expand their talent pool while building more productive and resilient workplaces.”