The jobless rate of working-age Australians with a disability has stubbornly sat in double-figures for three decades.
With this in mind, as well as the lower quality of life and life expectancy rates, the federal government has announced a plan to lift the quality of Disability Employment Service (DES) providers.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth on Thursday released the DES quality framework.
The framework will assess DES providers - which range from big for-profit organisations to small not-for-profits - against four elements: participant rights, understanding quality, provider capability, and compliance.
"Under this new framework, the rights, goals and support needs of people with disability who are supported by the DES program are paramount, as they should be," Ms Rishworth said.
"The framework places the participant first and recognises DES providers that are committed to collaboration, innovation and high-quality service delivery."
Life without Barriers chief innovation officer Emma Bennison said people living with disabilities needed to lead the design process.
"This is a really great first step ... but, considering we haven't been able to move the needle on unemployment of people living with disabilities over two decades, we're going to need to do a whole range of reforms if we want to see change," she told AAP.
Ms Bennison, who is blind, said employer attitudes were a significant barrier for people with an impairment finding and retaining meaningful work.
Freddie Brincat, founder of disability employment provider Community Bridging Services, said the key was sustainable employment, beyond short-term jobs.
"The new framework will encourage more sustainable employment ... if a group are in long-term jobs where they're happy they're more likely to get on-the-job training, promotion, increase pay, pay more taxes and have superannuation," he said.
Community Bridging Services client Stefan Noto said the framework would capture more detail about the quality of the service.
"It actually makes you feel more as a person now, using this framework, rather than just a number," he said.
The disability royal commission estimated a $27.7 billion cost to the economy in 2021/22 as a result of failures to provide people with disability equal opportunity to participate in the economy and equal access to quality services.
Service providers in the sector are expected to face formal assessments from January.
Quality assessment ratings and scores will be given based on such things as "meaningful engagement" with participants, and their knowledge of the local labour market and needs of employers.
The DES program will run until the end of June 2025, while the government looks at broader reform of the sector.
