Despite being fit and in her twenties, Lisa Cox suffered a stroke. After a year in and out of hospital, she was left with multiple amputations and invisible disabilities and was wheelchair-bound. Before the stroke, Cox was an award-winning copywriter in the advertising industry.

Like many others with disabilities, she has had her fair share of issues in the workplace. “The barrier to employment is not the stairs at the front door. It’s the attitudinal barriers of recruiters and other staff who repeatedly underestimate me and make assumptions about my capabilities, based on my disabilities,” she says.

Fed up with being underemployed, Lisa Cox started her own business 15 years ago. Today, she is a speaker and researcher.

Cox is calling on the government to take a more holistic approach to the multiple factors causing disability underemployment and unemployment.

“The problems I hear from my community are not related to software or infrastructure but to microaggressions, bullying and other forms of discrimination – all of which I have personally experienced,” she says.

Fed up with being underemployed, Cox started her own business 15 years ago. Today, she is a speaker and........

© The Sydney Morning Herald