Beyond The Standard Route: How One Engineer Is Rebuilding Her Career

For nearly a decade, Elizabeth ‘Lizzy’ Conger worked where engineers are often most useful: on-site.

At Dow Chemical in Texas, she was often as the on-the-site engineering expert on 20-plus construction projects. It was “boots-on-the-ground work,” she says.

But just over two years ago, she experienced a major health event, leaving her with ongoing and largely invisible health issues. They affect her mobility, ability to travel, and due to nerve damage in her hands, typing on a keyboard.

However, with accessible technology and reasonable workplace accommodations, she could work remotely for up to 20 hours a week and is looking to segue into a related field.

Her story prompts employers to reconsider the guardrails they set in job descriptions and stereotypes about the ‘ideal’ candidate.

Rebuilding confidence through study

After taking sick leave, then quitting her job, Conger completed a master’s degree in climate, energy, and environmental sustainability at Johns Hopkins University.

“I got to use it as my launch pad, really, to see that I could follow deadlines and complete tasks and, you know, ‘do’ school again,” she says.

With her new degree in hand, she sought to pivot from engineering to explore opportunities in corporate sustainability, clean energy, and environmental policy. She had hoped her project experience, technical knowledge, and the ability to communicate with construction teams under pressure would give her a foothold.

“I was just applying and applying and applying and applying and hearing nothing,” she says.

Conger is coming to terms with what employment with disabilities could look like for her.

Willing and able, but thwarted

So, what do the figures about disability employment show?

In 2025, 38.1% of working-age Americans with disabilities were employed. Across all ages, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 8.3%—double the 4.1% rate for people without disabilities. Workers with disabilities were also almost twice as likely to work part-time.

Disability:IN research also puts the economic stakes into perspective. Working-age Americans with disabilities represent a $675 billion consumer market. That includes $107 billion in annual discretionary income.

Jenny Kim Park, Bank of America’s Chief Opportunity & Inclusion Officer, says employment helps unlock that spending power.

“Working-age disabled Americans have significant purchasing power,” she says. “We’ve seen many of our teammates purchase homes, achieve financial independence, and contribute back to the economy.”

One initiative designed to address those barriers is NextGen Leaders, a six-month Disability:IN program for students, veterans, and recent graduates with disabilities entering the workforce.

Conger joined the program as a recent master’s graduate. Along with other participants, she receives career support, connects with recruiters, and has been paired with a mentor who’s a program alumni from Disability:IN’s corporate partners.

Allyce Torres, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Disability:IN, says lived experience is central to the program.

“NextGen is by people with disabilities, for people with disabilities,” she says.

For Conger, who says she still felt new to the disability community, that perspective mattered.

Finding a new professional language

Conger’s mentor works in the energy sector. The two meet online every two weeks to discuss job applications, her resume, and rebranding her engineering experience for future work. NextGen’s webinars offered insights, including about how to disclose her disability. Rather than disclosing at a particular point, she’s learned the decision depends on the role, the person, and whether accommodations are needed.

But to get to that point assumes she sails through recruiters’ AI screening filters, which can present barriers for applicants with CVs that don’t dovetail into standard job descriptions. On the flip side, AI boosts her accessibility. She uses it, including voice-to-text, to help write. Conger says the technology is a “force multiplier” for people with disabilities.

Jenny Kim Park, Bank of America’s Chief Opportunity & Inclusion Officer, says employers can help by designing accessibility into work from the outset.

“One practical step any employer can take is to design for the widest range of people from the start,” she says.

That can include captions in meetings, providing information in different formats, and seeking feedback from employees with disabilities. Park says relatively small changes can make work better for everyone.

Seeing ability differently

The biggest perspective shift for Conger came at Disability:IN’s Global Conference in Dallas.

She was one of 58 NextGen participants selected to attend. There, she met employers actively seeking to recruit people with disabilities and took part in “speed-dating” style informational interviews.

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