Disabled people face many forms of exclusion on the labour market. To what extent is work in the disability sector a manifestation of this exclusion or a solution to it? Defined here as working for a disability organisation or specialising in disability in one’s occupation, work in the disability sector represents an under-documented aspect of the employment experiences of disabled people. This article uses it as a point of departure to theoretically and methodologically operationalise Carol Thomas’s social relational approach of disability to the study of employment. Drawing on biographical interviews conducted in France with people with either mobility or visual impairments, this study shows the ambivalent nature of work in the disability sector, which is diversely experienced as a form of occupational segregation or a means of self-fulfilment.

残疾人在劳动力市场上面临多种形式的排斥。残疾部门的工作在多大程度上是这种排斥的表现或解决方案？在此定义为为残疾人组织工作或在其职业中专门从事残疾工作，残疾人部门的工作代表了残疾人就业经历的一个记录不足的方面。本文以此为出发点，从理论上和方法上将卡罗尔·托马斯的残疾社会关系方法应用于就业研究。本研究利用在法国对行动不便或视力障碍者进行的传记访谈，显示了残疾部门工作的矛盾性质，作为职业隔离的一种形式或自我实现的手段，其经历多种多样。