DEKALB, Illinois – Despite the benefits to both employee and employer of disclosing a disability, many American workers hide their disability. Now, new research identifies a simple way to increase the likelihood of disclosing a disability: by subtly tweaking the language used in response options on disability disclosure forms.
“For many employees, the word ‘disability’ doesn’t reflect how they define their differences in health, functioning and abilities,” says Alessia Santuzzi, a professor of psychology at NIU.
The study, led by Alessia Santuzzi, a professor of psychology at Northern Illinois University, found that reporting a “qualifying condition” resulted in significantly more disclosures than reporting a “disability.”
“Manipulating a single term on the disclosure form could lead to increased reporting of a disability,” Santuzzi said. “This effect was particularly pronounced for employees with psychological and invisible limitations, but disclosure of ‘qualifying conditions’ was generally greater across all types of disabilities.”
Santuzzi, along with former NIU doctoral students Robert Keating and Jesus Martinez, recently published their findings in the journal Group & Organization Management.
Organisations collect disability-related information from employees to meet legal requirements, promote inclusion and address employee needs. Disclosure of information helps create a more supportive work environment, improves job performance and enhances employee wellbeing.
However, for a variety of reasons, including the stigma associated with disability, there are likely many more employees with disabilities who disclose their disability in the workplace.
For example, a 2016 survey of US white-collar workers found that although approximately 30% have a health condition protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, less than 4% had reported it to their human resources department. Uncertainty about the prevalence of disabilities makes it difficult for employers, researchers, and policymakers to recognize employee disabilities and provide appropriate accommodations.
Building on previous qualitative research in their lab, Santuzzi and his colleagues hypothesized that using a different term instead of “disability” on disclosure forms would make employees more likely to disclose a disability.
To test this hypothesis, we randomly asked approximately 1,600 employed adults selected from an online panel to complete one of four versions of the Voluntary Self-Report of Disability (VSID), a disclosure form frequently used by U.S. employers and required to be used by federal contractors. All versions of the form contained the same background information, including the definition of disability as found in the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990, amended in 2008).
The original form offered three self-disclosure options.
Yes, I have a disability. No, I don’t have a disability. I don’t want to answer.
On this form, 20% of all respondents self-reported a disability. However, when we replaced the word “disability” with “qualifying condition,” the reporting rate jumped to 29%. (The other two response options that used alternative words to “disability” also showed higher reporting rates, but the results were not statistically significant.)
Importantly, the adjusted response options had the greatest impact on employees who reported psychological limitations rather than physical or cognitive limitations in a separate health assessment. When “disability” was used as a response option on the VSID form, only 41% of employees with a psychological limitation disclosed it. When the term was replaced with “qualifying condition,” this proportion increased to 59%.
“Terms such as ‘qualifying conditions’ may encourage respondents to think more broadly about limitations that may affect their job performance and then reveal those limitations even if they don’t use the label ‘disability,'” Santuzzi said. “Even when employees highly value their disability as part of their identity, many employees use a different term to describe that part of themselves in the workplace.”
The researchers believe that offering alternative response options may reduce the effects of uncertainty about the definition of disability, remove the need for individuals to accept disability as a social identity, and remove some of the concerns about disability stigma that prevent disability disclosure.
“Disclosure is an opportunity for employees to present their more authentic selves at work and, in a supportive work environment, can have psychological benefits,” Santuzzi said. “If employees are not given the opportunity to report in a way that is consistent with how they define themselves, they will not experience authenticity. For many employees, the word ‘disability’ does not reflect how they define differences in health, functioning and ability.”
Media Contact: Tom Parisi
About NIU
Northern Illinois University is a student-centered, nationally recognized public research university with expertise in science, humanities, arts, business, engineering, education, health and law that benefits the region and reaches around the world. Through its main campus in DeKalb, Illinois, and student and adult education centers in Chicago, Naperville, Oregon, and Rockford, NIU offers more than 100 areas of study and serves a diverse, international student population.