LGBTQ+ youth face significant challenges in school that can impede their ability to thrive. LGBTQ+ youth are significantly more likely than cisgender and straight youth to experience bullying at school and online, as well as to experience violence and physical and verbal harassment from their peers. Many LGBTQ+ youth report they are bullied specifically because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, leaving many to feel unsafe at school--and to even skip going to school due to safety concerns. Bullying does not always come from other youth--LGBTQ+ youth also experience higher rates of school-based discipline from teachers and administrators, which can increase their risk of dropping-out, expulsion, and even involvement in the juvenile justice system. At the same time, many LGBTQ+ youth lack resources that are inclusive of both their LGBTQ+ identity and disability, and rarely see themselves in their curriculum.

About 15% of public school students in the United States today receive special education services, of which one-third of those students have learning disabilities. However, not every student with disabilities is given the resources and opportunities to thrive and complete their education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, high school dropout rates are higher for youth with disabilities. Bullying can be a significant source of dropping out of school. Unfortunately, many students with disabilities are worried about school safety and being injured or harassed by other peers, and being bullied for a disability is among one of the most common types of bullying in school. As with LGBTQ+ students, those living with disabilities are also more likely than their peers to experience school-based discipline, including suspensions which result in more days held out of school.

For LGBTQ+ youth with a disability, stigma associated with their intersecting identities places them at even more risk for bullying and harassment. More than one-third (36%) of disabled LGBTQ+ students say they have been bullied or harassed in school because of their disability, while three in ten (30%) say they have felt unsafe at school because of their disability.

Schools have the ability to create inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ students with disabilities to thrive and succeed. One such tool at the student level is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), for students enrolled in K-12 public schools (or an Instructional/Individual Service Plan for students enrolled in private school). Under this tool, families, teachers, school psychologists/youth specialists, and school administrators work together to create a tailored plan for a given student, including outlining a legally binding agreement over any specialized services and accommodations and curriculum modifications the student will receive. As IEP/ISP are unique to each student, there are strategies that can be employed to ensure that any such plans are inclusive of both their disability, and their LGBTQ+ identity. For example, as outlined in HRC Welcoming School’s resource guide on “Advocating for LGBTQ+ Students with Disabilities," one accommodation can be that transgender students’ chosen names and pronouns be used in school or ensuring that any member of their IEP team is someone who is trained on LGBTQ+ cultural competency.

In addition, schools can create more inclusive environments by implementing school wide policies to prevent disproportionate rates of discipline among those living with disabilities, providing professional development and training to staff and educators around LGBTQ+ and disability inclusion, creating curriculum that are inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability (among other characteristics), and by supporting the creation of safe spaces for youth, including gay-straight alliances or gender and sexuality alliances (GSAs).

LGBTQ+ people can face significant challenges around accessing health care in numerous ways, which can result in them addressing their health needs and concerns. A study by the Center for American Progress found that 8% of LGBQ+ adults, and 29% of transgender adults, were denied treatment from a doctor or health care provider because of their actual or perceived sexual or gender identity. As a result, nearly one in five (18%) of LGBTQ+ adults who reported discrimination in that same study had avoided health care in the future. For transgender people, accessing health care can be additionally challenging. According to the 2015 U. S. Transgender Survey, one-third (33%) of transgender people who had been to the doctor in the last year had some negative experience with a provider as it related to their transgender identity.

Disabled people also face discrimination in healthcare. A study in the Disability and Health Journal found that disabled people who faced perceived discrimination sought health care at lower rates (79%) than those who did not perceive discrimination (86%). Disabled people may also have less access to routine health care, which can lead to multiple unmet health needs. One analysis of data on people with physical disabilities saw that physically disabled people are 75% more likely to have unmet medical needs, 57% more likely to have unmet dental needs, and 85% more likely to have unmet prescription medication needs.

LGBTQ+ people living with disabilities face compounding difficulties when seeking out care, especially transgender people. One study, found that transgender adults living with disabilities were significantly more likely to have experienced discrimination when seeking out social services than their non-disabled transgender peers. A more recent study found that transgender adults with a disability were between two and five times as likely as cisgender adults with a disability to experience numerous forms of unmet need for healthcare , including being unable to see a doctor in general, a specialist as needed, and a dentist.

While LGBTQ+ health care and access to care have improved over the past decades, there is still much more work left to do. It is imperative that institutions and healthcare professionals commit to building greater competency in the needs of disabled LGBTQ+ people by educating themselves, training their staff and continually marketing their places of care as LGBTQ+ affirming and disability accessible.

A study by Williams Institute estimates that 22% of LGBTQ+ adults live in poverty compared to 16% of non-LGBTQ+ adults. Underlying this disparity are the many ways that homophobia and transphobia are woven into our economic institutions and workplaces. For example, HRC Foundation’s 2018 LGBTQ+ Paid Leave Survey found that fewer than half of LGBTQ+ respondents reported that their employer’s policies cover new parents of all genders equally, and only 49% said that employer policies are equally inclusive of the many ways families can welcome a child, including childbirth, adoption or foster care. Previous research from the HRC Foundation found that LGBTQ+ workers do not earn equal pay for equal work, with LGBTQ+ adults earning about 90% of what the average American worker earns—and LGBTQ+ women earning approximately 79% of what the average American man earns. LGBTQ+ adults are also more likely to be unemployed ,and uninsured, than their cisgender and straight peers.

Many of the structural barriers faced by LGBTQ+ workers parallel those experienced by people living with disabilities. According to data from the 2019 American Community Survey, roughly 25% of adults with disabilities live in poverty, compared to the 2019 national poverty rate (roughly 11%). At the same time, unemployment is a significant issue among disabled people. According to 2021 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 19% of disabled people were employed compared to 64% of people without a disability. Second, disabled people also have less access to paid leave benefits. A study from the U.S. Department of Labor found that roughly 27% of people with disabilities had access to paid family and medical leave, compared to 37% of workers without a disability.

For LGBTQ+ adults living with a disability, risk of both poverty and unemployment is further compounded. One study from The Williams Institute found that LGBTQ+ men with disabilities are roughly 86% more likely to live in poverty than LGBTQ+ men without disabilities. Likewise, LGBTQ+ women were about 78% more likely to live in poverty than LGBTQ+ women without disabilities. At the same time LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities are more likely to work in industries that have, on average, lower wages or less access to benefits. In 2017, a Movement Advancement Project study found that only 36% of adults with a disability were employed compared to 77% of those without a disability. It also found that unemployment among LGBTQ+ people was much higher for those with a disability: close to 9% of LGBTQ+ people with a disability were receiving unemployment benefits compared to roughly 5% of LGBTQ+ people without a disability.

Employers have a critical role in ensuring that their disabled LGBTQ+ workers can access paid leave policies and other benefits. By spelling out leave policies in an employee handbook alongside other benefits and guidelines, all employees, including disabled LGBTQ+ workers will have a greater understanding of what benefits are available to them. Employers also have the critical role to make sure that human resources staff are prepared to answer questions regarding leave, including those unique to disabled LGBTQ+ people.