Unemployment rates of mentally disabled people and the Americans with Disabilities Act: A qualitative study

Historically, people with mental disabilities have suffered from discrimination and stigmatization, and one resulting complication has been extremely low employment rates. This study sought to determine whether the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — a pioneering and extensive law designed to combat discrimination — has had an impact on this problem.;Ten rehabilitation experts were interviewed for this study; selection criteria included education and experience in the field and with the law. Participants were asked to share their perspectives and experiences on what, if any, impact the ADA has had on employment and people with mental illnesses. The data was examined and a codebook developed from codes extrapolated from the data. Themes were developed which were used to analyze and summarize the findings in this study. The overall coding agreement of inter-rater reliability was 89%.;Research on employment statistics show no significant increase or decrease in employment rates of people with mental disabilities since the ADA became law; the 10 study participants identified six insufficiencies as causes for this problem: the need for greater awareness of the law and education (for employers and employees); insufficiencies in accommodations (provided by employers); stigmatization and discrimination (from employers to employees); compliance (non-compliance of employers to the law); disclosure (non-exposures of illness by the employee out of fear); and ambiguity in the law (unclearness of the ADA). These experts agreed that the law is more applicable to people with physical disabilities than those with mental disabilities.;The participants suggested various ways to address the problem: further educate employers and employees about the law; amend the law to make it more applicable to people with mental disabilities; and make it impossible for the employer to do business if noncompliant with the law.;In 2008, the ADA passed a major amendment on the ADA, which addresses some of the concerns of people with mental disabilities in employment settings. It is our hope that the new addendum, coupled with increased awareness of and education about the law, will help increase the employment rates of people with mental disabilities.