| The barriers to employment are significant and numerous for people with disabilities. One of the most complex decisions required in the employment process is whether to disclose the disability to the employer or not. People with disabilities may choose to disclose the disability for a variety of reasons, including the need for accommodations. This study seeks to fill a gap in the literature with an exploration of disclosure of invisible disabilities (physical and psychiatric) within the employment interview process.;In an analogue experimental design, employers were given the resume of a potential candidate, a job description, and then were shown a videotaped vignette of an employment interview with that candidate. After viewing the interview, they were asked to make a hiring decision and rate the candidate on an employability scale. The employers (n = 60, human resource professionals) were randomly assigned to one of 5 disclosure conditions: (1) no disclosure, (2) brief disclosure of bi-polar disorder, (3) brief disclosure of insulin dependent diabetes, (4) detailed disclosure of bi-polar disorder, and (5) detailed disclosure of insulin dependent diabetes. All of the four disclosure conditions also included a request for the same schedule accommodation.;The results of this study indicate that employers are more concerned about the type of disability being disclosed in an interview than the way it is disclosed. When the employability scores were examined, significant differences were found between the no disclosure group and the groups that disclosed a physical or psychiatric disability. Employers gave the highest employability scores to the candidates who disclosed an invisible physical disability.;However, although not statistically significant, the way the disclosure took place (brief vs. detailed) did have an impact. Contrary to predicted results, when the extent of the disclosure was looked at along with type of disability, employers were more likely to hire a person who briefly disclosed a psychiatric disability than one who did not disclose a disability at all. However, as was expected, employers gave out the poorest employability ratings when a psychiatric disability was disclosed (either briefly or in a detailed way). |
