Does visibility of disability influence employment opportunities and outcomes? A thematic analysis of multi-stakeholder perspectives

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adults with developmental disabilities are significantly un- and under-employed. Little is known about the relationship between visibility of a disability and employment. OBJECTIVE: To explore how visibility of a disability influences employment for adults with developmental disabilities. METHODS: In-depth interviews were done with caregivers, adults with developmental disabilities, and employment support professionals. Content related to visibility/invisibility of disability was thematically analyzed. RESULTS: Three main themes, with 10 sub-themes, emerged: (i) Dispelling Myths: Assumptions Related to Disability; (ii) Rock and a Hard Place: Disclosing ‘Invisible’ Disability; (iii) Finders-Keepers: Easier to find, but not keep, a job with invisible disability. CONCLUSIONS: Assumptions about disability underpinned employment-related challenges experienced by adults with developmental disabilities. Our findings highlight the need for employment initiatives that go beyond skill-based training to target social barriers of employment, such as stigma and lack of disability knowledge.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 25 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.