Hopeless or hopeful? Career sustainability of people living with physical disabilities

Purpose This paper aims to understand the career sustainability of people living with physical disabilities (PWPDs) in Sri Lanka, a South Asian developing country, with a particular focus on how their careers evolve over time and the challenges they encounter. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory qualitative design, grounded in the interpretive paradigm, was adopted. Data were generated through 22 semi-structured, in-person interviews with PWPDs in permanent employment. Findings The findings indicate that the unique experiences and career trajectories of PWPDs contest several foundational assumptions of sustainable career theory. Rather than progressively refining person–career fit over time, PWPDs engaged in an ongoing, largely solitary, struggle to construct and sustain career-disability fit. This effort is shaped by changes in the nature and chronicity of their disabilities, coupled with inadequate organizational support. Their career sustainability is particularly constrained by limited individual agency in career choice and persistent cultural, resource-related and contextual barriers. These findings indicate that it is the systemic and structural barriers – rather than medical impairments per se – that primarily disable PWPDs in the workplace. As a result, these dynamics strongly affect the core indicators of career sustainability – health, happiness and productivity – making career sustainability more about “endurance under constraints” for the PWPDs than one of achieving long-term person–career alignment, meaningful work, agency and continued growth, as typically envisioned within sustainable career theory. This highlights the need to critically revisit and review key assumptions of sustainable career theory to better reflect the lived realities of marginalized employees, for whom career sustainability unfolds in fundamentally different ways. Originality/value This study contributes original insights by empirically examining the career sustainability of PWPDs, an area that remains largely neglected in both disability and career research. It also critically re-examines the foundational assumptions of sustainable career theory by applying it to a non-traditional and marginalized employee group.