A path to self-reliance

People with intellectual disabilities find jobs through an innovative program

By Etelka Lehoczky

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Most workplaces have an employee like Peter Lee. His job title may be office administration assistant, but it’s more accurate to say he’s the go-to guy.

“I do a lot of things. When there’s a printer problem, people come and find me,” says Lee, who works for the Edmonton, Canada, branch of the multinational insurance consultant NFP.

“He’s basically Mr. Fix-It,” adds Rotarian Andre Charrois. He hired Lee through a Rotary collaboration with local nonprofit Inclusion Alberta, which works with people who have intellectual disabilities.

“Peter helps with the photocopy machines and knows where everything is in the supply room,” says Charrois, a member of the Rotary Club of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. “Nobody enjoys it when he takes a vacation, because they have to figure things out on their own.”

Lee is among many Albertans with intellectual disabilities who have found rewarding work with the help of Inclusion Alberta and Rotary. For more than two decades, Rotary’s alliance with Inclusion Alberta has made the most of Rotary members’ extensive networks in the business community. Members spread the word about the benefits of hiring people with intellectual disabilities and streamline the hiring process. The initiative has helped fill around 900 jobs.

“What Rotary provides is the strength of our networking, who we know. It’s been pivotal,” says Wendy McDonald, a member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Sunrise, Alberta, Canada, and chief operating officer of Inclusion Alberta. “Rotary’s strength is the ability to open doors to the business community that otherwise wouldn’t exist.”

Unemployment among people with intellectual disabilities tops 70% in Canada, according to Inclusion Alberta. In the United States, it’s more than 75%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But McDonald says there’s no reason that should be the case.

She cites the wide range of areas in which program participants work, from administrative work and customer service to construction and manufacturing. “The business case for hiring somebody with an intellectual disability is substantial,” McDonald says.

Business leaders who are skeptical about hiring people with intellectual disabilities are usually uninformed rather than deliberately prejudiced, says Ken Masson, who helped charter the Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy, Central MA and Metro West in 2021. He spent a decade working for a social services agency in Massachusetts, USA, that helped people with disabilities find jobs.

“In a majority of situations, it’s not a case of discrimination. I think it’s just a lack of knowledge,” he says. “People would say, ‘Let me think about it,’ or ‘Let’s bring someone in and see how it works out.’ I had several cases where they totally changed their attitudes.”

Charrois heard various objections when he first spoke to his colleagues about hiring Lee. They worried about what Lee’s role would be and what kind of supervision he would need. But after the decision was made, Inclusion Alberta’s onboarding assistance smoothed the way considerably.

“The Inclusion Alberta people came in without Peter and told our staff what they could expect with him, what his challenges were, and so on,” Charrois says. “As soon as they were done, I got about 10 email messages from people saying, ‘This is a really cool thing we’re doing as a company. This is a company I want to work for.’ ”

Inclusion Alberta staffers and Rotary volunteers are active early in the hiring process as well. Representatives from Inclusion Alberta may tour potential employers’ workplaces to find departments that could benefit from additional help. Rotary members act as employment coordinators and review job descriptions to decide whether a specific position can be filled by one of the people they represent. Sometimes it’s possible to modify a job to fit the applicant’s skills.

Although similar employment programs exist elsewhere in the world, this initiative is particularly cost-effective, says former Inclusion Alberta CEO Bruce Uditsky. That’s because it makes such good use of its Rotary volunteers. “Today, a lot of employment is secured by paying people in the disability field to find the jobs. In our case, we have the Rotarians securing the jobs, finding the openings, creating the chance for a conversation,” says Uditsky, a member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Sunrise who led Inclusion Alberta for 25 years. “This engages Rotarians who want to have a direct impact on their communities and make a difference in somebody’s life, in a way that is tied to the very roots of Rotary.”

For Lee, the program has indeed been life changing. That’s partly because working at NFP has been so different from his onetime goal of owning a coffee shop. He also feels supported as he navigates his role. “Anytime I have questions, I can call someone from Inclusion Alberta or the Rotary club. They’re always willing to spend time to chat with me and find solutions to any problems,” he says. “They’ve always been really helpful along the way.”

Find out more about Rotary’s commitment to local economic growth.

— October 2025

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