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"For me, disability inclusion is not a CSR initiative or a welfare topic, as many people assume. Disability inclusion is a business imperative and it is about business sustainability," says the co-founder.
According to government statistics, there were 534,200 persons with disabilities in Hong Kong in 2020, accounting for 7.1% of the total population.
Despite various measures implemented to promote equal employment such as the anti-discrimination ordinances – the Disability Discrimination Ordinance, the Selective Placement Division, as well as the Productivity Assessment for Employees with Disabilities under the Statutory Minimum Wage regime – the labour force participation rate for individuals with disabilities in Hong Kong remained low at 19.7% in 2020.
Sharing insights on the employment challenges faced by people with disabilities in Hong Kong in this exclusive with HRO’s Tracy Chan is Walter Tsui, Co-Founder and CEO of CareER.
Though visually impaired, he has completed his bachelor’s degree and is strongly committed to supporting tertiary-educated individuals with disabilities and special education needs in Hong Kong.
Together with a group of passionate individuals, Tsui co-founded CareER, an NGO that stands for ‘Care in Education and Recruitment’, dedicated to shaping the next generation of talent and businesses by fostering an inclusive workforce culture.
Read the full interview here.
Q: What do you think contributes to the low labour force participation rate for people with disabilities in Hong Kong? What specific barriers or challenges do individuals with disabilities often face when seeking employment in Hong Kong?
First of all, I believe the key issue lies in the significant information gap between people with disabilities and the employment market. Many individuals with disabilities are unaware of the opportunities available to them, and employers often lack an understanding of how to engage with this talent pool effectively.
This is why CareER has been working hard in the past decade to lower this information gap by connecting the two: providing market insights by working with a variety of local employers, and offering charitable job matching services to the talent with disabilities who have achieved a tertiary education. This ensures that such individuals are aware of the latest opportunities available to them.
Secondly, there is a strong stigma surrounding people with disabilities. Many employers are unaware of the wide spectrum of disability types (10 types in Hong Kong) and the diverse range of skills and education levels that people with disabilities possess.
While some individuals may require supported employment or vocational jobs and ‘blue-collar’ work, others come from higher education backgrounds from a bachelor’s degree up to a doctorate degree, who can thrive in professional and ‘white-collar’ roles.
However, the prevailing stigma often places people with disabilities in a low-skills or welfare-dependent stereotype. This mindset prevents employers from recognising these talents’ potential and providing the right jobs for them to flourish in the workforce.
Q: Hong Kong has implemented various measures to promote equal employment. How effective are these measures in helping people with disabilities find employment in the city?
I think policies that promote disability inclusion are helpful in raising awareness within Hong Kong's local community. They highlight the need to include people with disabilities in various aspects of the employment market.
However, the challenge is that Hong Kong remains at the ‘awareness’ stage. Most employers understand these policies and find them encouraging, but they lack the practical knowledge or ‘know-how’ to integrate employees with different types of disabilities into their workplaces. This gap in knowledge is a significant barrier.
This is why CareER has initiated research and developed tools – for example, the CareER Disability Inclusion Index, (CareER DII).
Another challenge in current policies is that they often convey the message that people with disabilities require welfare support for integration into the workforce. Instead, we need to shift our mindset to focus on the abilities of these individuals and adopt a merit-based approach to hiring people with disabilities, instead of showing sympathy.
The goal should not be to hire people with disabilities solely because of government subsidies or welfare incentives, but because of the value and talent they bring to the workplace.
Another major gap is in engaging corporations. While many policies exist, we observe that there is a lack of designated expertise to help corporations implement these policies effectively. Employers need support to understand how to integrate government incentives and policies into their systems. Without this engagement, many companies remain unaware of how to take meaningful action to support employment for people with disabilities.
Q: CareER DII was recently honoured with the Zero Project Award. What makes the Index unique, and what impact has it brought?
Our CareER Disability Inclusion Index is a diagnostic tool to pulse-check a business’ inclusiveness for people with disabilities. What makes CareER DII stand out is that it is Hong Kong’s first and only framework and tool to support employers systematically with disability inclusion.
It has also been designed and is led by people with disabilities (myself as a person with visual impairment, and as of 2024, 50% of our team of 14 full time staff are CareER members/alumni with different disabilities).
It was launched in partnership with the civil society and the private sector; our target beneficiaries (are people with disabilities with a tertiary education), and we leverage global research, local reviews, and insights from scholars to complete our framework.
We have studied over 10 major stock exchanges worldwide to build a localised framework that is aligned with global ESG reporting standards.
I am really grateful that our framework and index was awarded the Zero Project Award this year for the second time, with our first Zero Project Award being granted during the COVID years in 2021 for our charitable recruitment and peer community model.
Q: On a more personal note, what drives you to champion this cause?
As a person with visual impairment, I am one of the first students with a disability to benefit from Hong Kong’s integrated education, completing my studies from primary school to university. However, despite these policies, I received little support growing up.
I faced inequalities during my university years due to the lack of awareness and realised that many of my peers with disabilities with a tertiary education were also struggling to seek meaningful employment. This personal experience inspired me to act.
After graduating from university, I worked at various multinational companies such as L’Oréal, Gammon Construction, Goldman Sachs, and UBS, but still struggled to find the right fit for me.
In 2012, Louisa Mitchell, an individual social policy researcher at Civic Exchange, who then became one of CareER’s Co-Founders, published academic research about how universities in Hong Kong treat students with disabilities that echoed my experience. Together, we decided to create CareER to support the needs of my peers with disabilities in 2013 and register CareER as a charity in 2014.
I am really grateful to have taken a leap of faith to quit my full-time job to start this journey, which has attracted like-minded peers and individuals in the past decade to now become the largest talent pool and alumni union for highly educated people with any types of disabilities in Hong Kong.
Q: What actionable steps and strategies can Hong Kong businesses take to engage people across an organisation and drive change? What misconceptions should be addressed?
For me, disability inclusion is not a CSR initiative or a welfare topic, as many people assume. Disability inclusion is a business imperative and it is about business sustainability. Reports from Accenture highlight that inclusive companies perform better financially, with higher profit margins and improved employee retention.
Disability inclusion should be a sustainable, ongoing process within the business context. It should not be a one-off initiative as it requires a long-term strategy and commitment.
People with disabilities make up nearly 10% of Hong Kong’s population. Many individuals also have family members or loved ones with disabilities. Disability inclusion is not just about helping a minority group, it is about creating a workplace where everyone can thrive both mentally and physically.
Employers should ask themselves: What can we do to contribute to an inclusive society?
Q: Looking ahead, what changes would you like to see in the next five to 10 years?
To achieve a truly inclusive workplace in Hong Kong, we hope to see transformation in the following three main aspects:
- Physical inclusion: Ensuring accessibility in all premises and the physical work environment.
- Digital inclusion: Providing accessible technologies and tools in the digital world for equal access.
- Social integration: Creating a culture of psychological safety where individuals’ differences are embraced.
Social inclusion also means valuing the uniqueness of every employee, not just those with disabilities. We believe in building career development pathways where all employees, including those with disabilities, can grow into leadership roles, climb the corporate ladder, and achieve fulfilling careers.
In the coming years, we aim to tackle the glass ceiling that many people with disabilities face in their career progression. Our focus is not just on hiring people with disabilities, but on supporting their continuous growth – from junior roles to management and senior leadership positions. If we can achieve this, Hong Kong will really become a truly inclusive society from my perspective.
The excerpt of this article first appeared in the H1 2025 edition of Human Resources Online's Hong Kong e-magazine. View the e-magazine here, where you'll find power-packed features and interviews with leaders across various sectors!
All photos / Provided (Lead image: Walter Tsui, Co-Founder and CEO of CareER)
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