What happens when historians research the lives of people with intellectual disabilities as low paid workers rather than patients? When we turn away from sources produced by the medical establishment and look to vernacular and workplace records? This paper examines the experiences of British workers, employers and public institutions in relation to intellectual disabilities. By looking at labour markets, gender becomes prominent, with male and female workers having very different experiences of negotiating impairment, workplaces, quotas, state supervision and making a living. What did breadwinning mean for disabled workers who struggled to personify adult male qualities? And how did women’s often informal and low paid work intersect with their experiences of impairment