Are you hesitant to disclose your disability during the hiring process?
You're not alone. Many people avoid disclosing their disability due to the stigma and negative experiences that often follow. Unfortunately, research shows that disclosing before the interview can also lower the chances of being considered for the job (Maroto & Pettinicchio, 2020). Let's work together to create a more inclusive hiring process that values diverse perspectives and abilities.
An article from Disabilities Quarterly by Maroto and Pettinicchio reviews the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its impact on the economic well-being of people with disabilities (2020).
The article highlights how disability is a status that affects the distribution of resources, including employment opportunities. The ADA has made significant progress in improving the quality of life for disabled students, and without it, they would not have had access to public schools. However, the article shows that disabled people still face challenges in gaining employment, with only 41% or less of disabled people having jobs compared to 81% of non-disabled people. The article attributes this to business owners' fear that hiring disabled people would cost them more, leading them to deny employment to those with disclosed disabilities. It is essential to avoid perpetuating dangerous biases when interpreting such articles and to be careful with language usage when discussing members of the disability community.
What steps can be taken to create a more inclusive hiring process?
1. Educate your team and hiring managers on disability and inclusion in the workplace, including the benefits of hiring people with disabilities.
2. Review your existing job descriptions and requirements to ensure they are inclusive and do not exclude qualified candidates with disabilities.
3. Offer accommodations during the application and interview process, such as providing sign language interpreters or allowing candidates to complete assessments in alternative formats.
4. Train managers and employees on how to support and work with colleagues with disabilities.
5. Create a welcoming and accessible workplace environment, including physical accessibility, assistive technology, and flexible work arrangements.
6. Partner with disability-focused organizations or job placement services to attract and recruit qualified candidates with disabilities.
7. Regularly evaluate and update your hiring practices to ensure they are inclusive and effective.
Let's take steps to educate ourselves
It's time we work together to create a more inclusive hiring process that values diverse perspectives and abilities and ensures qualified candidates are not overlooked due to a disability or access requirements. Let's take steps to educate ourselves, review job requirements, offer accommodations, create a welcoming workplace, and partner with disability-focused organizations. We can make a difference and create a more inclusive and diverse workforce.
Maroto and Pettinicchio’s comprehensive review article focuses on the perceived failure of the ADA to improve the economic well‐being of people with a disability (2015). This presentation frames disability as a status like race and gender that negatively impacts the distribution of resources. The article explicitly discusses hiring practices impacted by the ADA.
Please be careful when interpreting research and articles to avoid perpetuating dangerous biases
The ADA AA needs to focus on the findings from the peer-reviewed journal article, which looks at hiring and employment trends and how the ADA impacted gainful employment. This article shared that 81% of non-disabled people are employed, whereas 41% or less of disabled people have jobs. Maroto and Pettinicchio’s article focuses not on all applications of the ADA but on workforce and employment (2020). The article looks at how some factors could contribute to the decline in white-male disabled employment from 1990 forward, and that can be that the criteria for disability can be changed to include mental illness and other categories of disability rather than only including congenital-cognitive and physical disability.
The article and supporting evidence do not state that hiring people with all varieties of disabilities is more costly, and the article states that business owners have been resistant and less likely to hire disabled people because employers make a grandiose assumption that disabled bodies are more expensive to employ. It is perilous for the disability community for a scholar to read a peer-reviewed journal article and then disseminate inaccurate information that perpetuates cycles of oppression and stereotypes. I also caution from using stereotypes when describing members of the disability community, as language matters, and even employing othering language as a blanket statement without supporting evidence can cause more harm than education.
References:
Maroto, M., & Pettinicchio, D. (2020). Twenty-Five Years After the ADA: Situating Disability in America’s System of Stratification. Disability Studies Quarterly, 35(3). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v35i3.4927
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