DeKalb, IL — Could altering the language on disability disclosure types encourage extra employees to reveal their situations? A current research explored this concept.
“Disclosure is an opportunity for employees to present a more authentic version of themselves at work, which may bring psychological benefits in supportive work environments,” stated Alecia Santuzzi, a psychology professor at Northern Illinois University.
Santuzzi and a group of researchers from NIU and the Illinois Institute of Technology used on-line survey responses from 1,600 employed adults. Respondents got one in every of 4 variations of the Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form.
The authentic type has three response choices:
- Yes, I’ve a disability.
- No, I don’t have a disability.
- I don’t want to reply.
Using that format, 20% of the respondents disclosed that they had a disability. When the phrase “disability” was changed with “qualifying condition,” 29% of the respondents disclosed that they had a disability. “Two other response options with terms replacing ‘disability’ also elicited higher rates of disclosure, though they were not statistically significant,” an NIU press launch states.
“Terms such as ‘qualifying condition’ may cue respondents to think more broadly about limitations that might affect work performance and then perhaps disclose these limitations even if they do not adopt the label ‘disability,’” research writer Alecia Santuzzi, a psychology professor at NIU, stated within the launch. “Even if employees greatly value their disability as part of their identity, many employees use different terms to express that part of themselves in the workplace.
She added, “Authenticity cannot be experienced if employees are not given the opportunity to report in a way that aligns with how they define themselves. For many employees, the term ‘disability’ does not reflect how they define their health, function and ability differences.”The research was revealed on-line within the journal Group & Organization Management.
