SILVIA BONACCIOTELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

Barriers to Employment for Individuals with Disabilities

Background

Establish the state of the scientific knowledge Transfer of knowledge science <->practice

Listen to community partners’ needsMuch knowledge created in

Rehabilitation Public Health Law Psychiatry Addiction and counselling Sociology Social work …

Background

Lack of systematic research in OBHR on employment and disability

Disabled employees Largest diversity group Yet, receive the least amount of attention (Hyland &

Rutigliano, 2013)

Purpose of the Paper

Comprehensive literature review of the barriers to employment

End result is a taxonomy of barriers Foci of barriers

Environmental barriers Job itself Worker (or candidate) perceptions Employer perceptions

Couch the perceptual barriers in psychological theory C.f. Stone & Colella, 1996

Identify areas in need of research

Important “Knowns”

Nearly 3 million of Canadians living with disabilities 56 million of Americans (Brault, 2012)

Government policies established to promote equity Employment Equity Act (EEA; Canada) American with Disabilities Act (ADA; US) Disability Discrimination Act (DDA; UK)

Yet, little progress in employment equity across jurisdictions

Important “Knowns”

Despite a similar level of education as able-bodied individuals, individuals with disabilities are/have Lower employment rates , more likely to be in part-

time or episodic employment(Hum et al., 1996) Lower salary (Kaye, 2001, US Data) More likely to live at or under poverty level (Yamaki &

Fujiura, 2002, data for developmental disability) Less satisfied with their work (Schur et al., 2009) Less career advancement (Wilson-Kovacs et al., 2008) ….

Research Challenges

Disability is a difficult construct to define Not an “entity” like gender, or even race (Davis, 2001) American with Disabilities Act lists over 1000 conditions PALS lists 10 categories Disability evolves across time

Daily, weekly, monthly fluctuations Lifespan changes Able-bodied can become disabled, and vice versa.

Extant research reports vague sample characteristics

Co-morbidity of disabilitiesVisible and non-visible disability

Research Challenges

Decision/Discussion Time

How do we define disability? For our team And across the themes of the grant

What are our inclusion criteria? E.g., no comorbid psychological disabilities? E.g., permanent disability only?

Methods

Literature search PsychINFO ABI/Inform Google Scholar Cited reference search for key articles

E.g., Stone & Colella (1996) Maybe

Medline Business source complete Scopus

Suggestions?

Search for human rights complaints in Canada Basis for complaint when disability is the focus 2005 50% of complaints were disability-based (reported in Schier et al.,

2009)

Methods

Initial search in PsychInfo and Google Scholar Keywords:

Disability (Disabled) (Able-bodied) (Reasonable accommodation) Employment (Unemployment) (Work/Worker) Barrier

Barriers to Employment

Decision/Discussion Time

Unemployment versus underemployment Career entry versus career re-entry versus

career advancementBarrier to getting versus keeping the jobOthers?

Barriers—Overview

Environmental barriersJob itselfEmployer perceptionsWorker (or candidate) perceptions

Let’s discuss what the literature says and add our own experiences/thoughts to the preliminary list

Do these categories make sense?

Environmental Barriers

Mobility Adapted transportation Rural versus urban setting Others?

Architectural Workplace setting

E.g., Stairs, washroom locations Others?

Employment Market/Economy

Others?

Job Barriers

Job itself Job requirements

Essential KSAOs Training

Nature of work Public Flexplace availability Shifts/scheduling

Technology available Others?

Employer Barriers

Legal “fears”

Accommodation

Stereotyping/Discrimination

Perceptions of job performance

Miscellaneous (for now)

Employer Barriers

Legal “fears” Accident/injury Not being able to fire Perception of litigiousness, entitlement Others?

Accommodation Lack of knowledge Cost Others?

Employer Barriers

Stereotyping and discrimination Negative AND positive stereotypes Others?

Perceptions of job performance Increased absenteeism, unreliability Lower task performance Performance of main and ancillary duties Increase need of supervision Others?

Employer Barriers

Miscellaneous (for now) Paperwork Public image of company (stigma of visible aesthetic

disability) Coworkers, team issues Employment policies Others?

Job Candidate Barriers

Disability itselfMobilityFamily/networkSelfKSAO/TrainingLegalFinancialDiscrimination

Job Candidate Barriers

Disability itself Type of disability Onset of disability (age of individual, traumatic or

gradual incidence) Aesthetic and visibility of the disability Attendant issues: Fatigue, aches, need to lie down,

need for breaks…. Need to take medication at work

Job Candidate Barriers

Mobility To get to work At work May not know what accommodations will be

needed/don’t want to ask

Family/network Familial support Familial needs/responsibilities Doctor/specialist support

Job Candidate Barriers

Self Self-efficacy, self-esteem Self-presentation skills

KSAO/Training Training or retraining necessary Age at time of disability may influence KSAO/training

acquired

Job Candidate Barriers

Legal Not knowing rights and responsibilities

Financial Fear of losing benefits, insurance Is salary higher than benefits “What if I start working and then need benefits later

on?”

Job Candidate Barriers

Experienced or Feared Discrimination Fear of discrimination if one discloses disability (and

when to reveal if at all) If disability is contagious or perceived as such Patronizing colleagues/supervisors

Next Steps

Refine taxonomy Ensure no missing categories or subcategories

Focus group with targeted individuals

Structure of taxonomy Questionnaire-based data collection Factor Analysis

Challenges

Practical challenge Need to go beyond Stone & Colella 1996 AMR paper Need to be a practical taxonomy of barriers to have

maximum impact on employers Need to add value beyond existing literature in other

fields Different philosophies across fields so “quality” of

publications is inconsistent. Important to evaluate literature but keep an open mind

Questions for you

Tough question for community partners Given you knowledge of the field, will this type of

paper be useful?

Tough question for academics Will the paper be well-received? Publication target?