Pathways into the labour market for Norwegians with mobility disabilities

This article explores pathways into working life for Norwegians with mobility disabilities through a life span approach. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from 15 employed individuals with mobility disabilities to gain an insight into their interpretation of events and conditions over the course of their life as either obstacles or facilitators for entrance into employment. We identified three categories of narratives: the ‘straightforward’, the ‘supported’ and the ‘barrier-prone’ path narratives. Higher education appears to be the main facilitator to a smooth transition into employment while certain aspects of welfare service provision are the main impediments. The analysis also demonstrated that barriers to employment do not pertain to isolated events but rather are obstacles that the interviewees experience recurrently over time.