A study funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
People with disabilities face higher unemployment rates compared to those without disabilities. Recent statistics show the employment rate for people with disabilities in the US is about 37%, compared to more than 75% for people without disabilities. Despite policies and legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibiting discrimination, employers may have negative perceptions that hinder the hiring of individuals with disabilities and influence hiring practices. Smaller businesses, in particular, may be less inclined to hire people with disabilities due to concerns over potential accommodation costs.
In a recent NIDILRR-funded study, researchers examined the perceptions of small businesses about barriers to and facilitators of hiring people with disabilities, and the role of the ADA in those perceptions. They also examined whether small businesses had more favorable perceptions of some disabilities over others when hiring and whether there was a relationship between barriers and facilitators and their likelihood of hiring people with disabilities.
Researchers from the Disability Inclusive Employment Policy Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC), the Employer Disability Practices RRTC, and the Southeast ADA Regional Center surveyed 393 owners and hiring managers at small businesses with 2-100 employees. The participants rated their concerns about barriers to hiring of people with disabilities such as a lack of qualified applicants, unfamiliarity with hiring or accommodating workers with disabilities, employee productivity, or legal issues in disciplining employees with disabilities. The participants also rated the importance of facilitators to hiring such as personal experiences with disabilities, diversity policies, and beliefs that hiring people with disabilities could positively impact business image and productivity. Additionally, the participants rated how likely they were to hire individuals with disabilities based on disability type (intellectual, developmental, blindness, deafness, mobility, and mental health).
The researchers looked at the responses overall and also compared the findings between 2 groups of participants by company size: businesses with 15 or more employees that are covered by ADA requirements (ADA-covered businesses) and businesses with 2-14 employees without legal requirements under the ADA (non-covered businesses):
- The top barriers to hiring across both groups were difficulty disciplining employees with disabilities due to legal issues, lack of knowledge about hiring and accommodating, and uncertainty about the cost of accommodations. The ADA-covered businesses were more concerned about finding qualified candidates, while the non-covered businesses were more concerned about accommodation costs.
- The top facilitators of hiring across both groups were the belief that employees with disabilities contribute positively to the company’s bottom line and create a positive and productive work environment. The ADA-covered businesses also rated government policies around discrimination and hiring as important. Generally, ADA-covered businesses reported more facilitators to hiring than non-covered businesses.
- ADA-covered businesses were more likely to hire people with disabilities than non-covered businesses. Both groups reported that, if they were to hire an employee with a disability, they were least likely to hire people who are blind and most likely to hire individuals with physical disabilities.
- For ADA-covered businesses, concerns about being unable to discipline employees with disabilities most negatively affected hiring decisions, particularly for hiring people who are blind or deaf. For non-covered businesses, concerns about productivity most negatively affected their hiring decisions, particularly for hiring individuals with deafness or physical disabilities.
- For ADA-covered businesses, attitudinal barriers and common stereotypes had a greater impact on hiring decisions than facilitators and made them less likely to hire people with disabilities than non-covered businesses. However, knowing someone with a disability made ADA-covered businesses more likely to hire than the non-covered businesses.
The authors noted that while ADA-covered and non-covered businesses share similar concerns about hiring, managing, and accommodating employees with disabilities; ADA-covered businesses may be better equipped to address these challenges. These larger businesses may be more willing to hire people with disabilities because they have more financial and personnel resources to meet employee needs and because of their legal obligations under the ADA.
The authors also noted that companies differed how facilitators and barriers affected their willingness to hire, and in their beliefs about each disability group. Interventions and training programs could be tailored to address biases and misconceptions about specific disabilities or the specific concerns of different-sized businesses: attitudes and stereotypes for ADA-covered businesses and common low-cost accommodations for non-covered businesses.
Small businesses make up the majority of businesses in the US and employ more than half the workforce. This study provides valuable insights into the complex decisions and perceptions among these businesses that impact the hiring of individuals with disabilities, offering potential pathways to increase employment opportunities for this population. These findings may also help vocational counselors and job placement specialists better support employers and job seekers with disabilities in navigating the hiring process.
To learn more:
The Disability Inclusive Employment Policy Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) offers research and resources to help employers and policy makers expand inclusive employment, including the Let’s Get to Work podcast series. The Disability Employer Practices RRTC also published research and resources on best practices in hiring and retaining employees with disabilities.
The RRTC on Employment of People who are Blind or Have Low Vision offers a range of resources for businesses and employment professionals to learn about hiring and supporting employees with disabilities. They’ve also developed an Implicit Association Test on Blindness and Visual Impairment (IAT-BVI) designed to measure implicit attitudes about the competence of individuals who are blind or visually impaired by measuring response time for matching concepts of competence with images depicting vision level.
The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) at the Department of Labor has many initiatives and resources to support employers in learning about recruiting, hiring, and retaining workers with disabilities. ODEP also organizes National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October.
To learn more about this study:
Goodman, N., Deane, S., Hyseni, F., Soffer, M., Shaheen, G, Blanck, P. (2024). Perceptions and bias of small business leaders in employing people with different types of disabilities. Journal of occupational rehabilitation. This article is available from the NARIC collection under Accession Number J94088.