Introduction
AI is scaring a lot of people, and for good reason. It seems certain that familiar jobs will go. And while new ones will be created, we don’t know what skills may be required. David Rock from the Neuroleadership Institute argues that meta-cognition will be a critical future skillset, but only around 5% of any workforce have an innate interest in it.
The risk for staff with disabilities is that they may find themselves in a very different competitive environment in which the old ableist biases are revived and intensified.
There are global reports of workplaces becoming more demanding, with greater pressures on time and attention. There are several reasons for this – lower staffing numbers, managers under more pressure and less able to ‘manage’ effectively and, in the public sector especially, an increase in pointless politically orientated work.
A newly coined term, workslop, reflects the explosion of unproductive work, and AI is adding to this as more organizations are demanding staff take it up. The problem seems to be that AI output might be fast but it’s often garbage that must be checked and amended. This may be an early-stage problem, but it is impacting current workplaces.
For staff with disabilities there are two risks. The first is a less civil work environment in which support for Disability Inclusion is performed as part of a cultural expression but not actually delivered. Workplaces under stress will have a bias toward staff who appear more able. This isn’t intentional – just an ingrained reflex. The situation will be more complex because those who appear to be more ‘able’ may not necessarily have the meta-cognitive capabilities that are actually required.
The other risk is that the nature of competition may change in ways that are not fully understood and, as a result, making a case for Disability Inclusion may not be received with any enthusiasm or just misunderstood in the emerging environment. Advocacy for Disability Inclusion must evolve to meet the current and emerging organizational environments.
People with disabilities will take a hit in the future workforce, like everyone else. But we must also ensure that we are clear-eyed about what is happening and that ableist impediments are not reintroduced under the guise of the need for heightened efficiency – not said out loud, just felt and agreed upon quietly.
AI can help
As with any leap in technological development, AI will bring many benefits to people with disabilities. For this reason, embracing AI as just another technology is important. But the hype around AI is overblown and poorly understood by many who advocate for it.
The greatest risk is that organizational leaders will be persuaded by the promise of lower staffing costs and favour rapid introduction, as urged by those who have their own motives – like earning fees and commissions. Introduction of AI fueled by ill-advised enthusiasm is a genuine threat.
So while AI can be a boon to staff with disabilities that can transform how they work, it has a sting in its tail.
AI can make us dumb if we are not smart
Any kind of assistive technology has potential downsides. I use AI very sparingly at the moment. I prefer to do my own internet searches because I discover sites that I didn’t know existed. The AI ‘search assistant’ is handy when my inquiry is basic and quick. And I love using Siri too.
For me using tech is always a balance between benefits and risks. When I write I love the process of thinking about what to say. So, there’s no chance I will use generative AI to write stuff for me. That said, I absolutely understand that others do not find writing anything other than a chore they would avoid if they could.
But when AI is used for writing it presents all kinds of problems. The most important is that the person responsible has no real connection with the piece written. Without thinking about and composing something it doesn’t register in our minds in the same way as non-AI ways of doings do. And reading what AI has written hastily won’t work either. We might produce output that meets a demand but, because we were not engaged with it, we have no depth of insight – we won’t be able to speak about what the content means. Then there is the additional problem of not knowing whether what was produced is accurate.
Discussion among experts on AI raises a distinction between process tasks and work that requires human insight and connection. AI may evolve to the extent that this distinction will be harder to make. But for now, this is a critical consideration.
This is the value of meta-cognition – an unsatisfactory expression really. In plainer terms it is about self-awareness and capacity for insight and empathy. Essentially those very human attributes we value.
If work is just about delivering output to meet task requirements, then there is little need for a human to be in the process of production. Humans have been largely removed from manufacturing because machines do the jobs humans used to do better, faster and cheaper.
While AI might save us from drudge process work it can also help us to be more self-aware, self-reflective and better informed – if we turn the time saved into productive effort. This is especially so in organizations which deliver services that are intended to meet human needs. In the public sector there is a huge potential to markedly improve the quality of human services.
But we will have to put that time we save into enhancing our capabilities to ensure that we have a place in a possible future workplace. This is a trend that has been growing for decades but is little remarked upon. Entry-level education standards have been increasing. Psychological assessments are being employed during recruitment processes. It is entirely possible that well-developed meta-cognitive skills will be essential in the future.
In effect, smarter technology’s pay-off should be smarter, or more effective, humans and not just better educated button pushers.
So as technologies that overcome accessibility challenges become commonplace our workplaces and job roles may become more accessible to people with disabilities. That’s how we’d like it to be. But there’s a downside we must confront.
The AI risks
It is widely acknowledged that the introduction of AI will lead to fewer jobs in currently known fields. There may be a growth in other types of high-status work, but this isn’t known at this early stage. This is still at least a decade away in my view.
As things stand now, university graduates are finding entry level roles in preferred fields harder to come across. The trend seems to be toward tighter competition. For those in work, advancement will be harder to attain.
People with disability have always faced the ‘people like us’ bias. Those in control who do have a disability reflexively prefer ‘people like us’ – and they dominate our organizations. So, if there is the threat of job scarcity, that bias will become more active. Disability Inclusion has been ticking along while the labor market has been okay. But the moment a sense of threat becomes entrenched a ‘survival of the fittest (ableist)’ mentality will be activated to a higher degree than is currently the case.
Regardless of how hard it is for a person with disability to get and keep a job now, it is going to get harder.
What can be done?
Increased competition means developing and maintaining a competitive edge. Enhancing one’s meta-cognitive skills will be critical. This is true regardless of whether one has a disability or not.
Actively working with organizations to ensure asserted commitment to Disability Inclusion is actual rather than rhetorical is essential. HR departments are undergoing significant changes. Some are being depleted and weakened. A backlash against perceived ‘woke’ extremism and identity politics risks making Disability Inclusion more lip service than genuine action.
Many HR functions can be transferred to AI, with the result that biases against people with disability can be designed in – inadvertently or through intent.
Advocacy for Disability Inclusion must be active and effective – employing enhanced meta-cognitive skills. Otherwise, the tide that has been flowing toward Disability Inclusion may begin to ebb.
Conclusion
It’s early days with AI yet. There are a bunch of unknowns. The only reasonable certainty is that AI will continue to evolve and affect our workplaces and will have an impact on recruitment – in terms of levels and preferred capabilities. This means that AI will impact the employment prospects of people with disability.
Talk of developing one’s meta-cognitive skills is unpopular. We have a natural bias against thinking – unless a threat obliges us to adapt our behaviour. AI is a threat. We can calculate the risks AI poses to our employment future and assess our need to adapt. This our personal responsibility. We cannot use the fact we have a disability as a ploy to evade that responsibility.
I recommend keeping an eye on developments and participate in discussions with trusted sources. My regular go to sources are, for the moment, the Neuroleadership Institute (podcasts and website) and whatever free content I can access from the Harvard Business Review (articles and podcasts) as well as other random resources.
Critically, Disability ERGs must develop a clear approach to engaging with their organizations about AI soon, so there is an established relationship with a mature dialogue that can be communicated back to members.
Many critical observers says that AI is over-hyped. There are good reasons to think so. The danger is that these risks may not be appreciated by decision-makers. So, it is important that you have a clear understanding of the perspective that urge a cautious approach.
CBC’s Ideas has a useful show that was broadcast on 15 April 2026 entitled Literature vs the AI Industry. You can get the podcast on your regular provider or from the show’s website.
The show mentions three books. I have read two and have started on the third. They are:
- The AI Con by Emily Bender (a computational linguist) and Alex Hanna (a sociologists who has worked in the tech industry)
- Empire of AI by Karen Hao (a journalist specializing in AI – described as an ‘AI insider’)
- More Everything Forever by Adam Becker (a physicist and a journalist)
Please note that I use Amazon hyperlinks for the above books in the interest of inclusion for people with disabilities who rely on ebooks and audiobooks. If you buy 3D books please support your local independent book seller.