Supporting the Careers of Developers with Disabilities: Lessons from Zup Innovation

Abstract

People with still face discrimination, which creates significant obstacles to accessing higher education, ultimately hindering their access to high-skilled occupations. In this study we present Catalisa, an eight-month training camp (developed by Zup Innovation) that hires and trains people with disabilities as software developers. We interviewed 12 Catalisa participants to better understand their challenges and limitations regarding inclusion and accessibility. We offer four recommendations to improve inclusion and accessibility in Catalisa-like programs, that we hope could motive others to build a more inclusive and equitable workplace that benefits everyone.