Employers report rarely seeing disabled workers in their applicant pools, though they may be underestimating this number given the prevalence of people with disabilities. This can be due to several reasons, including:

• Disabilities are difficult to discern and not often known except to those affected, with “invisible” disabilities, including mental illnesses, arthritis, diabetes, episodic disabilities, etc.
• Disclosure issue, purposeful withholding of information by prospective employees due to a concern of occupational repercussions even at the risk of no accommodations
• Recruitment process deters people with disabilities from applying in the first place