By Karen Rivedal, Office of Research and Scholarship
A new research initiative led by UW–Madison School of Education professor Eun-Jeong Lee will help early-career adults with spinal cord injuries take on an urgent and persistent challenge: building meaningful, sustainable careers in the face of reported discrimination, limited support, and subtle workplace barriers.
Backed by a $350,000 award from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, Lee’s three-year project — known as WorkWISE-SCI, or Workplace Inclusion, Self-Advocacy, and Engagement for Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury — will develop and test a first-of-its-kind virtual intervention designed to strengthen self-advocacy, expand access to mentorship, and improve overall quality of work life.
“It’s not because of their functioning,” Lee said in an interview about early-career adults with spinal cord injuries. “They know the job description, and they can perform. It’s more about contextual factors, including the attitude coming from their co-workers and supervisors, that is actually impacting their quality of work life.”
By blending human-centered training with emerging AI tools and peer mentorship, the project aims to create a more inclusive and supportive path into the workforce for people with spinal cord injury by equipping them with the skills, confidence, and community they need to thrive. The project brings together experts in rehabilitation psychology, socio-technical systems, and AI, along with the wisdom of adults living with spinal cord injury, to co-design a program that addresses workplace challenges experienced by this population.
Lee is a professor in the school’s Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education. Her research team includes collaborators from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago (associate professor of psychology Nicole Ditchman and assistant professor of information technology and management Ann Rangarajan), where Lee previously served as a professor of psychology and conducted research on workplace microaggressions before joining UW–Madison last semester.
Why this work is needed
Employment rates for people with spinal cord injuries remain low — only about 27% are employed 10 years post-injury, according to national data cited in the proposal.
Upon entering the workforce, young adults with spinal cord injuries report facing negative assumptions about their abilities, limited advancement opportunities, and microaggressions that undermine confidence and belonging, revealing a need for interventions that address both the practical and emotional dimensions of work, according to the proposal. These young adults are especially vulnerable, Lee said, as they are often establishing careers at the same time they are adjusting to life after injury, which often occurs in the teen years from vehicle crashes, other accidents, and sports activities.
The proposal highlights that such individuals often lack access to mentors who share their lived experience, and many struggle to find supportive networks that can help them navigate workplace challenges. Self-advocacy skills — such as the ability to communicate needs, request accommodations, and respond to bias — are essential but rarely taught. WorkWISE-SCI is designed to fill these gaps.
Tailored assistance is key. “There may be a ton of resources, but it’s not always customized to the individual’s needs,” Lee said. “Your condition can be different from another person with the same injury.”
How the project will work
WorkWISE-SCI integrates three never-before-combined factors in a single intervention:
- Virtual self-advocacy training. A structured, group-based program that teaches participants how to recognize and respond to microaggressions, communicate their needs, seek accommodations, and build resilience.
- An AI-powered career assessment and resource platform. A personalized digital tool that helps participants understand their strengths, track progress, receive tailored job-related recommendations, and access resources that address real workplace challenges.
- AI-supported peer mentorship matching. A system that connects participants with mentors who also have spinal cord injuries, offering relatable guidance, emotional support, and a sense of community.
Together, these components aim to strengthen participants’ resilience, reduce workplace discrimination, and support long-term career adjustment and wellbeing.
The project also uses a community-based participatory research approach, meaning people with spinal cord injuries will help guide every stage of the work. This ensures the program reflects real-world needs and remains grounded in the experiences of those it would serve.
Across all phases, the team will use mixed-methods data collection, including surveys, interviews, and usability testing, to guide iterative improvements. Lee said goals for future projects are to scale up the intervention for widespread use and to better educate employers and service providers on the needs of workers with spinal cord injuries.