Looking for Jobs for Disabled People at Home? Try These Ideas

Working from home is a convenience for many of us. For people with disabilities, the ability to work remotely can be essential.

About 7% of the total population of people with disabilities telecommutes some or all of the time, estimates suggest. But it can be a challenge to find exclusively work-from-home jobs whether you’re a person with disabilities or not. Adding medical considerations to the mix could make it even more difficult to find home-based work.

Here are some resources that may help.

Work-From-Home Jobs for People With Disabilities

We’ve broken down the list below to address different types of disabilities, including visual, hearing and mobility, among others.

Work-From-Home Jobs for People With Visual Impairments

In addition to your local LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired chapter, check out these other resources for people with visual impairments.

Project Starfish

This is an employment platform that trains blind individuals for virtual work opportunities in areas like sales and social media marketing.

Project Starfish also helps blind job seekers develop professional network connections with small businesses and startups that may lead to long-term employment opportunities.

According to the company’s website, participants in the Project Starfish management consultant program “work virtually from home via phone, internet, and Skype, and can be based anywhere in the United States.”

Business Enterprise Program 

Entrepreneurial-minded people who want to own and run their own home-based business can apply to the Business Enterprise Program through their state’s vocational rehabilitation center.

The program gives blind individuals priority access to a training curriculum on how to run food service facilities in federal and state buildings, as well as rest areas and welcome centers.

Transcription

Transcription jobs are popular options for people looking for work-from-home opportunities. A variety of industries, including law enforcement, legal and medical fields, rely on transcriptionists as vital parts of their workflow process.

Quick(er) Money

Mystery shopping, survey work, phone-based customer service jobs and freelance writing have generally lower barriers to entry and are also good ways for visually impaired people to earn money.

Work-From-Home Jobs for People With Hearing Impairments

Though many work-from-home jobs are phone-based, some don’t require workers to have or use phones at all. Here are examples of jobs for people with hearing impairments.

Search Engine Evaluator

People with limited or or no hearing may want to look into becoming a search engine evaluator with Appen or Lionbridge. The job is entirely computer-based and pays about $15 per hour.

Social Media Evaluator

If a search engine evaluator job isn’t appealing, consider its close cousin, social media evaluator. Keep an eye on Appen’s career page to find out when jobs open up.

Work-From-Home Jobs for People With Mobility Impairments

While some people who use wheelchairs don’t have limitations that prevent them from doing the jobs we’ve mentioned, people with limited use of their hands, arms or upper body may need different types of home-based jobs.

National Multiple Sclerosis Society

This organization offers a number of service, resource and job suggestions on work-from-home employment opportunities for people with limited mobility.

Voice-based Work

People with upper body limitations who can use a phone (with or without accommodations) may want to check into voice-based work-from-home jobs like foreign language interpretation, customer service or tutoring.

Use Your Writing Skills

Home-based writing, editing and proofreading jobs may also be a possibility using a computer with assistive software. Employment database FlexJobs is a terrific resource for finding this type of work-from-home jobs, although there are monthly and yearly service fees to access the listings.

Work-From-Home Jobs for People With Cognitive or Developmental Impairments

Work-from-home jobs for people with cognitive or developmental impairments are as varied as each person’s unique limitations and circumstances.

Some people with a cognitive impairment excel in fields that require technical skills. Others flourish in creative or performing arts.

A vocational counselor or your state’s vocational rehabilitation agency can help assess which jobs are right for you.

No matter what type of work-from-home job you’re looking for, be sure to keep an eye on our work-from-home jobs portal — we post new remote opportunities there all the time.

Lisa McGreevy is a former staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. 

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.