Employment and Disability

While reading A Disability History of the United States, I decided to trace employment and perceptions around employability amongst disabled people. I was saddened to read that disabled people were outright excluded from partaking in the voyage across the Atlantic, thus precluding any chance of opportunity that people were seeking. I was also saddened by the fact that disabled people were considered undesirable because of the financial burden they caused the communities who were charged with them. The employment of two disabled men as schoolteachers (whose names I forgot), however, provided, I think, an exception. I was unsurprised by the level of unemployment following that era, but was really angered by the wartime employment. Yes, disabled people were finally being employed, but only because employers had no other options. Nielsen says something along the lines of America needed its disabled workers. Where was America when disabled workers asked for help? The lack of reciprocity in that relationship is infuriating. 

I was also very interested by who counted as disabled. Disabled veterans were noble, brave, had sacrificed for their country, and therefore deserved a hero's welcome, employment, and benefits. Meanwhile, other disabled people were not so lucky. 

My question, then, is: to what extent does capitalism hinder disability rights, and to what extent have disability activists successfully claimed their stake in this capitalistic system?