The Palgrave Handbook of Disability at Work

Sandra L. Fielden, Mark E. Moore, Gemma L. Bend, Sandra L. Fielden, Mark E. Moore, Gemma L. Bend

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9783030429652
• eBook ISBN: 9783030429669
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Ethics
• Index: Business

This scholarly handbook covers all aspects of people with disabilities entering the workplace, including the legal aspects, transitions, types, and levels of employments, the impact of different disabilities, and the consideration of the intersection of disability with other identities such as gender and ethnicity. Comprehensive in scope, chapters look beyond organizational strategies that accommodate an employee's disability and use case studies to highlight important issues and the individual's perspective. The handbook concludes with a reflection on the work included in the book, what was not included and why, and makes recommendations for future disability research. Marking a major contribution to the study of workplace diversity and bringing together academics from various disciplines and global regions, this handbook covers a truly broad and diverse mix of approaches, theories, and models.

© The Author(s) 2020

S. L. Fielden et al. (eds.)The Palgrave Handbook of Disability at Workhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42966-9_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Sandra L. Fielden¹ , Mark E. Moore² and Gemma L. Bend³

(1)

Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

(2)

Department of Kinesiology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

(3)

The Open University Business School, Milton Keynes, UK

Sandra L. Fielden (Corresponding author)

Email: [email protected]

Mark E. Moore

Email: [email protected]

Gemma L. Bend

Email: [email protected]

Keywords

DisabilityWorkplaceDiversityInclusionHRIdentity

End Abstract

Disability is a dynamic and evolving construct that requires ongoing discussion of emergent perspectives from different academic disciplines. Yet, despite international and national guarantees of equal rights, there remains a great deal to be done to achieve global employment equality for people with disabilities. However, just focusing on the rights of individuals does not provide an adequate understanding of the actual experiences of people with disabilities in the workplace (Nyanjom et al. 2018). Research has, to some degree, provided an understanding of stigmatized identities and the self-esteem of people with disabilities, as well as how organizations accommodate the specific problems of employees with disabilities (Oliver and Barnes 2012). While this approach is valuable and interesting it does not really consider the experiences of people with disabilities in the workplace, and for many of these individuals their career progress is a far more complex interaction between disability (and other intersectional variables such as gender, ethnicity and race), work and the workplace. In contrast to other publications that have focused on one element of disability in the workplace, for example legal aspects, the approach we take is to follow and analyse the encounters of those with disabilities throughout the work process.

Regardless of the route taken into employment the journey to enter, secure and maintain employment for people with disabilities is fraught with challenges, both good and bad, that has a significant impact on individual’s well-being (UK: Baumberg 2015; USA: Dunn and Burcaw 2013). Despite advancements in legislation and policies in western societies that should give people with disabilities equal opportunities and rights on par with people without disabilities in employment, research still finds that people with disabilities remain in a disadvantaged position (Baumberg 2015). In the UK 22 per cent (7.5 million) of the population report having disabilities, specific to employment 51.3 per cent (3.9 million) are in employment compared to 81.4 per cent of people without disabilities; 9.3 per cent of people with disabilities are unemployed compared to 3.7 per cent of people without disabilities; and 44 per cent (3.3 million) are economically inactive (Office of National Statistics 2018). In addition, employment rates for people with disabilities by different characteristics were as follows:

Age: highest for those aged 25–49 (56.4 per cent), lowest for those aged 16–24 (38.2 per cent),

Education: highest rates for those with a degree (or equivalent) (71.7 per cent) and lowest for those without a qualification (17.0 per cent),

Gender: women (50.8 per cent) and men (51.9) have similar rates,

Part-time: 24.1 per cent aged 16–64 were working part-time compared to 36.0 per cent of people without disabilities of the same age.

When you further investigate these statistics, it becomes evident that there is a disparity of employment rates across the disability spectrum when comparing the gap in employment rates for specific people with disabilities against figures for those without.

As can be seen in Fig. 1.1 there is a huge 56.2 per cent employment gap between those with a learning difficulty (23.9 per cent) and those with no disability; comparatively there is a much smaller gap, 19.8 per cent, for individuals with a hearing disability, such as hard of hearing or deafness, and those without (60.3 per cent employment rate). Furthermore, employment rates were 61 per cent for those with one health condition, 52 per cent for two conditions, 44 per cent for three conditions, 38 per cent for four conditions and 23 per cent for five or more conditions. Although this book is not specifically aimed at increasing the numbers of people with disabilities in the workplace, by providing an in-depth understanding of the benefits, barriers and difficulties they encounter as they enter and progress through work, we hope that employers, employees, policymakers and all relevant individuals and organizations will contribute to increasing the number of people with disabilities entering and remaining in paid work.

Fig. 1.1

Rates of employment across disability variants. (Adapted from Mirza-Davies and Brown, 2016, p. 4)

Definitions

The concept of disability is complex, and there are historical, social, legal and philosophical influences on its interpretation. The experience of disability is unique to each person but there are common barriers and issues in terms of peoples’ rights to access specific disability services, provided directly or indirectly by governments. The need for some agreed definitions, largely to ensure that disability support programmes are fair about who is to receive benefits and why, has prompted much discussion and debate. However, here are a few definitions that are widely accepted:

The World Health Organization (WHO)

Disability is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Disability is thus not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives. Overcoming the difficulties faced by people with disabilities requires interventions to remove environmental and social barriers (WHO 2018).

United Nations (UN)

The convention protects all persons with disabilities, who are defined in Article 1 as including “those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others” (UN 2012). This broad definition adopts what is known as the social model of disability. It recognizes that disability is an evolving concept, and that we are often prevented from exercising all of our human rights and fundamental freedoms by barriers of attitude and environment which have been placed in our way.

The International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps

The current version of the international classification of impairments, disabilities and handicaps (ICIDH) (Wood 1980) contains definitions and examples that are highly culture-specific (e.g. references to ‘pouring tea’) or that are inappropriately characterized according to sex. Consequently a new version of the ICIDH is now being drafted to embrace developments since 1980 and address criticism of the first ICIDH. One of the major developments is the more specific recognition of the social construction of the third dimension of disability. It is being proposed that this third dimension be renamed ‘participation’, and that its definition recognize the critical role played by environmental or contextual factors in restricting full participation. The draft definition is as follows:

• Impairment: is a loss or abnormality in body structure or of a physiological or psychological function.
• Activity: is the nature and extent of functioning at the level of the person. Activities may be limited in nature, duration and quality.
• Participation: is the nature and extent of a person’s involvement in life situations in relationship to impairments, activities, health conditions and contextual factors. Participation may be restricted in nature, duration and quality. Participation is considered within seven broad domains: personal maintenance; mobility; exchange of information; social relationships; education, work, leisure and spirituality; economic life and civic and community life.
• Context: includes the features, aspects, attributes of, or objects, structures, human-made organizations, service provision and agencies in, the physical, social and attitudinal environment i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• Part I. Legal Aspects
• Part II. Transitions
• Part III. Types of Employment
• Part IV. Levels of Employment
• Part V. Disabilities
• Part VI. Intersections
• Part VII. Dynamics
• Part VIII. The Way Forward
• Back Matter