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New study shows how employees with disabilities function in the workplace

Published on October 5, 2007 by Donna Seale

Ryerson University just released a study entitled "Doing Disability with the Bank: Discovering the Work of Learning/Teaching done by Disabled Bank Employees".  From 2003-2005, the researchers conducted focus groups with employees at the Royal Bank of Canada who have disabilities and with co-workers and managers who did not have disabilities.  The purpose of the study was to:

"…identify and describe the informal learning strategies that disabled employees use in order to be successful in corporate jobs."

The researchers made ten key findings.  The ones I found particularly telling were:

1. Employees with disabilities preferred not to disclose their disabilities to protect themselves from workplace discrimination and from intrusive inquiries by co-workers.  This stood in contrast to co-workers and managers who preferred full disclosure;
2. Employees with disabilities will often go to elaborate measures to hide their disabilities in order to facilitate their integration in the workplace;
3. Employees with disabilities expressed frustration with the wait-time for workplace accommodations that would enable them to do their jobs;
4. Managers expressed a concern about keeping an eye on the "bottom line" and developing practices that support disabled employees in the workplace.

While businesses, generally, have made great strides to be more open to hiring employees with disabilities and providing accommodation in the workplace, I think these findings show that there is still a lot of work to be done.  When I teach in the area of workplace accommodation, disability is always the big issue that people want to discuss.  And, in the vast majority of those discussions, non-disabled employees and managers show a true interest in creating equity in the workplace but they express uncertainty as to how to make that happen. I will often respond by asking them whether they have had this kind of discussion with disabled employees in their own workplaces.  In many cases, the answer is "no".

I couldn’t agree more with the study’s main conclusion that "social interaction is the new frontier of workplace accommodation."  Truly open and respectful communication is critical for non-disabled employers/managers/co-workers to understand the needs of employees with disabilities in the workplace and for disabled employees to have their needs met.

See also:

News release: "Employees with disabilities are expert learners"

Globe & Mail: "Disabled workers’ other job: hiding their disability"

Related posts:

1. New study shows how US companies are addressing an aging workforce
2. Study shows impact of workplace personal harassment
3. New job site focuses on connecting workers with disabilities and diversity-seeking employers

Categories: Best practices,In the News

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