AI transforming working life for persons with disabilities

In order for more persons with disabilities to participate in the labour market, the labour market itself must become more inclusive. AI and new technologies can offer a wide range of possibilities to increase inclusion of persons with disabilities – but not without challenges and risks.

These topics were discussed at a workshop in September 2025, at which the Nordic Welfare Centre invited selected researchers, national authority representatives, labour market actors and disability organisations.

Opportunities and threats

AI offers great opportunities for persons with disabilities in working life. Kave Noori from the European Disability Forum mentions speech-to-text tools, apps like Be My Eyes that offer audio descriptions to blind and visually impaired persons, planning assistants and interactive learning materials.

But the tools built to support can also fail, because AI development often ignores social context. For example, speech-to-text can fail to recognize diverse speech patterns, and there is also a risk of individuals being singled out by AI systems. A concrete example of this is anti-cheating software flagging students with motoric overactiveness or tics as “suspicious”.

–  You have to be really mindful, because persons with disabilities are by definition, statistically speaking, deviating from the average and there is a high share of people who tend to be flagged in these types of situations, says Kave Noori.

“AI should become a force for inclusion.”

Noori notes that when it comes to successfully implementing AI tools, governance and leadership matter. Several participants in the workshop highlighted the need for transparency and legislation to prevent discrimination.

– We need to make the development of AI inclusive and also make sure that disability is visible. AI should become a force for inclusion and should not lead to further marginalization of persons with disabilities. We need protection against AI systems that discriminate, says Pirkko Mahlamäki from the Council of Nordic Disability Organisations (Handikapporganisationernas nordiska råd, HNR).

Co-creation as a guiding principle

A recurring theme was the importance of co-creation – developing tools together with the people who will use them.

In Denmark, the alliance Disability Tech Denmark brings together disability and patient organisations, startups, research institutions and policy actors, with the aim of influencing frameworks to develop and implement digital solutions that improve inclusion and quality of life for people with disabilities.

At the core of the disability tech definition is the ambition to co-create; to involve users across the entire lifecycle.

– We think that solutions must be created together with the people who will use them in their everyday life. Existing knowledge in the field shows that current solutions fail because they’re not aligned with the user’s need. During the design, development and follow-up of the technologies used, user involvement is critical, says Morten Hauge Larsen from Disability Tech Denmark.

AI tool supporting access to the labour market

In Norway, the support tool Klara.ai has been developed to promote more accurate and effective job placement for people who are currently outside the labour market. Klara has access to up-to-date labour market data, trends and educational opportunities, and is designed to strengthen employer follow-up and contribute to better accessibility for job seekers.

– We are developing a community-driven and co-development process, with 500 of our job counsellors co-creating a platform for anti-discriminatory work inclusion, explains Modolf Moen from Arbeid & Inkludering at The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise NHO.

Klara provides significantly more accurate and targeted insights about the labour market than the standard version of ChatGPT-4, due to its access to real-time data on the business sector provided by NHO’s analysis department.

– We are currently looking for institutions that want to do research on Klara, and we’re also considering expanding the platform to other Nordic countries in due time, says Modolf Moen.

AI a challenge for small languages

For small language communities, AI development comes with special challenges. With only around 350,000 daily speakers, Icelandic is too small a language for commercial AI developers to prioritise. As a result, Iceland has built its own language infrastructure through a public–private partnership called Allmannarómur. This has led to breakthroughs such as live Icelandic speech-to-text tools and simplified-text services for broadcasting – solutions that rely on diverse, locally curated datasets.

The disability organisations participatied in the work from the start, says Rósa María Hjörvar from the Icelandic Disability Alliance ÖBI.
– The collaboration with the disability movement has been so important in all stages of the process, from the very beginning when collecting the data and building the infrastructure. The focus of data collection became a much more diverse project this way, says Rósa María Hjörvar.

“The collaboration with the disability movement has been so important in all stages of the process.”

Several speakers at the workshop noted that Nordic languages more broadly risk falling behind if they are not actively included in AI development. This is not only a linguistic issue; it is a question of democratic access and digital participation.

Nordic and Baltic ministerial declaration on inclusive AI

The Nordic and Baltic ministers for digitalisation adopted a joint ministerial declaration in May 2025, Promoting participation of persons with disabilities through inclusive, fair and accessible artificial intelligence.

– In this declaration, the ministers commit to promoting the rights and participation of people with disabilities in discussions and decisions on artificial intelligence at the national, Nordic and Baltic level, says Cecilia Leveaux, senior advisor at the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The recently opened New Nordics AI, a Nordic-Baltic center for applied AI is a concrete example of how the Nordic and Baltic countries are working together in the field. The project Digital inclusion in action is also an example of Nordic cooperation.

Nordforsk is funding research activities that address shared Nordic and Nordic-Baltic societal challenges in the context of extensive use and implementation of AI in the region through the programme Responsible use of artificial intelligence.