War, Injury, and Rehabilitation: How Disability Became a Workforce Issue

Employment has always been tied to how society defines value, productivity, and worth, and people with disabilities have often been left out of that definition. In this six-part blog series, we explore the history of disability and employment in the United States, from the earliest labor systems to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and beyond. Each post examines how attitudes toward work, ability, and merit shaped who was included and who was excluded, and why those patterns persist today. This series connects directly to the themes in The Talent You’re Missing, which examines how merit-based hiring can help employers move beyond outdated assumptions and recognize the talent that has always been there.

Where We Are in the Series

In this post, we examine the late 1800s through World War II, when disability became increasingly associated with institutions, rehabilitation, and the notion that employment determined personal worth.

Disability and “Fitness” for Work

As the United States moved from the late 1800s into the early 1900s, disability became more visible, not because society became more inclusive, but because industrialization, war, and urban growth created new kinds of injuries.

During this period, disability was increasingly viewed through the lens of work, productivity, and “fixing” the individual rather than changing society to be more accessible.

As factories and industrial labor expanded, so did rigid ideas about who was “fit” for work. Speed, strength, and physical endurance became the standard. Anyone who did not meet those standards was often viewed as unproductive, dependent, and unemployable.

Rather than asking how jobs could be redesigned, society focused on whether the person could be made to fit the job. This idea still influences how we think about disability and employment today.

War Changed Who Was Seen as “Disabled”

World War I and World War II dramatically shifted public views on disability.

Thousands of soldiers returned home with physical injuries, hearing loss, vision loss, and psychological trauma. For the first time, disability was associated not only with poverty or illness, but also with service, sacrifice, and patriotism.

This led to new efforts in rehabilitation and job training, with a very specific goal: restoring disabled veterans so they could return to work and become economically productive again.

Rehabilitation: Support or Control?

During this period, rehabilitation programs expanded quickly. They focused on physical therapy, job retraining, vocational programs, and medical treatment that was closely tied to employment.

These services did help many people return to daily life and work. However, they were built on a powerful assumption: that a person’s value depended on their ability to work. If someone could not be trained for a job, they were often pushed aside and sent back to institutions, placed in segregated programs, or funneled into low-paying jobs.

Instead of changing society to be more inclusive, the focus remained on changing the person to fit into society. In many cases, rehabilitation crossed into exploitation, and low expectations, low pay, and limited opportunity became accepted as “normal” for people with disabilities.

Why This Era Still Matters

This period cemented the idea that disability should be addressed by fixing the individual rather than fixing the workplace. Employment became the measure of success, and failure to work was often attributed to individuals rather than to systemic barriers.

These ideas continue to influence employment systems today, particularly in how training, productivity, and “readiness” are used to evaluate workers with disabilities.

Looking Ahead

In the next post, we’ll explore the period after World War II through 1989, when rehabilitation models expanded, and disability employment became more formalized yet inclusion remained limited.

Want to Learn More About Disability and Employment?

The Talent You’re Missing explores these themes in greater detail and demonstrates how merit-based hiring helps employers move beyond outdated assumptions and recognize talent with disabilities. At Disability Insights, we help organizations apply these ideas in practical, real-world workplace settings.