Materials for Teaching, Research and Policy Making

Principal Investigator: David W. Livingstone
Team Members: M. Raykov, K. Pollock, F. Antonelli

CHAPTER 5:

Other Topics in Learning and Work [PDF]

SECTION

5.3. Disability, Work and Learning [PDF]

1. Abbas, J. (2003). Disability and the dimensions of work. Unpublished Masters, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto.

            People labelled disabled face exclusion in almost all aspects of their lives. This social exclusion is particularly true in the labour force, where people with disabilities typically face high rates of unemployment and underemployment. This research not only seeks to critically analyze the labour market inequity experienced by bodies marked "disabled", but also to illustrate the social process behind this "disablement". In doing so, this research advances an understanding of disability oppression in which social, cultural, and economic structures are scrutinized and their role in social exclusion highlighted. In order to illustrate the dynamics of disability and work, this research will explore in depth the following three labour market conditions: unemployment, underemployment and unpaid labour. By doing so, this research illustrates how an sociological approach to disability oppression uncovers the root causes of labour market inequity and thus allows us to lay the foundations for social justice.

            KEY WORDS: Disability; Labour Market; Social Exclusion; Unemployment; Underemployment; Unpaid Labour.

2. Allaire, S. H., Li, W., & LaValley, M. P. (2003). Work barriers experienced and job accommodations used by persons with arthritis and other rheumatic diseases. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 46(3), 147-156.

            Many people with arthritis become work disabled, but little is known about the types of work barriers they experience and their use of job accommodations. This article describes work barriers and use of accommodations and examines factors associated with accommodation use in persons with arthritis at risk for work disability.

            KEY WORDS: Physical Disabilities; Vocational Rehabilitation; Work Environment; Arthritis; Accommodation; Disabilities.

3. Baldwin, M. L., & Schumacher, E., J. (2002). A note on job mobility among workers with disabilities. Industrial Relations, 41(3), 430-441.

            Data from the 1990 and 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation are used to analyze relationships between disability status and job mobility. Individuals who experienced voluntary and involuntary job separations over a 20-month period were identified to examine the effect of disability status on rates of job change and wage growth following a job change. The results show that disabled workers are more likely to experience involuntary job changes than are non-disabled workers but there is little difference in the wage effects of job changes by disability status.

            KEY WORDS: Disability Status; Job Mobility; Voluntary and Involuntary Job Separations; Job Change; Wage Effects.

4. Balser, D. B. (2002). Agency in organizational inequality: Organizational behavior and individual perceptions of discrimination. Work and Occupations, 29(2), 137-165.

            This study examines how disabled employees interpret organizational practices. Through the viewpoint of disabled workers, the study shows how they interpret organizational behavior as discriminatory and mobilize the law to inject agency into inequality processes, albeit cognitively. Disabled employees perceived discrimination to be based on personal characteristics, organizational structure and the limited opportunities for training in organizations. However, employees who worked in organizations that were focused on disability issues or who were offered opportunities for training were less likely to perceive discrimination. The study also indicates employees who worked in organizations with grievance procedures were more likely to perceive discrimination. Findings imply disability related human resource management structures play a symbolic role with little influence on employees' perceptions of discrimination.

            KEY WORDS: Disabilities; Work; Organizational Practices; Discrimination; Grievance; Human Resource Management; Employee Perception.

5. Barnes, C., Mercer, G., & Shakespeare, T. (1999). Exploring disability: A sociological introduction. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

            This new and exciting introductory textbook is applicable for anyone studying disability. It provides an excellent overview of the existing literature in the area, and it also develops an understanding of disability that has implications for both sociology and society. In the past 30 years, our understanding of disability has dramatically changed. Once perceived as a largely medical problem affecting only a low number of people, it is now a major social and political issue. Exploring Disability charts both the traditional and contemporary approaches to the area before focusing on the social model of disability. The authors look at the relationship between disabled people and areas such as medical sociology, disability studies, social policy, politics and culture. The book concludes with an exploration of the future of theory and research on disability. Exploring disability will be indispensable for students seeking to better understand disability within sociology, disability studies, social policy, politics, cultural studies, and health-related disciplines including medicine.

            KEY WORDS: Disability; "At Risk".

6. Bartlett, D., & Moody, S. (2000). Dyslexia in the workplace. London: Whurr.

            This book is designed for both adults with dyslexia and for professionals concerned with helping them, such as psychologists, tutors, therapists, researchers, disability advisors, and welfare officers. It also offers advice to employers on how to help staff with dyslexia. The text covers the nature of dyslexic difficulties and their effects, both practical and emotional. Dyspraxic difficulties are also discussed. Assessment tests are described and reviewed, and recent research is summarized. Detailed advice is given on tackling the difficulties encountered by adults with dyslexia, including work organizations and effective work methods, reading and writing for work purposes, memory skills, oral presentation and interaction, and dealing with the emotions associated with dyslexia. Finally, guidance is given on the British Disability Discrimination Act, and sources of information and help are listed. Throughout the book, there are numerous case studies designed to capture the immediate experiences of people with dyslexia at work. Appendices include a dyslexia checklist, a dyspraxia checklist, a basic relaxation exercise, and visualization exercises for relaxation.

            KEY WORDS: Adults; Case Studies; Civil Rights Legislation; Clinical Diagnosis; Disability Discrimination; Dyslexia; Emotional Problems; Employer Employee Relationship; Employment; Evaluation Methods; Reading Strategies; Speech Skills; Individual Disorders; Work Environment; Writing Strategies; Dyspraxia; Great Britain.

7. Benjamin, S. (2002). Reproducing traditional femininities? The social relations of 'special educational needs' in a girls' comprehensive school. Gender and Education, 14(3), 281-294.

            The charity/tragedy discourse of disability and traditional versions of femininity bear some striking resemblances. Both are associated with dependence and helplessness and with resultant practices that are implicated in the enduring reproduction of social and material inequalities. This article looks at the “identity work” of a group of girls, all of whom had been identified as having “special educational needs”, in a mainstream school in the UK. Using findings from an ethnographic study, the article explores how the girls position themselves in relation to the subject “special needs student”. The findings suggest that historical meanings associated with femininity and disability combine with contemporary schooling practices to produce a constrained range of subject positions around which the girls have limited room for manoeuvre.

            KEY WORDS: Charity; Disability; Femininity; Dependence; Helplessness; Reproduction of Social Inequalities; Special Educational Needs.

8. Bevan, R. (2003). Another way on? A search for an alternative path into learning for people with a learning difficulty or disability. British Journal of Special Education, 30(2), 100-106.

            This article explores alternative routes in further education and attainment of qualifications for people with disabilities, focusing on the potential uses of information technology and more flexible approaches to learning. Findings from interviews with students are used to develop student-centered maps to goal attainment for such students.

            KEY WORDS: Adults; Disabilities; Information Technology; Job Placement; Outcomes of Education; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education; Self Actualization; Self Determination; Student Attitudes.

9. Bricout, J., & Bentley, K. (2000). Disability status and perceptions of employability by employers. Social Work Research, 24(2), 12-23.

            This study uses a correlational design to examine the discrepancies among employers' employability ratings of hypothetical job applicants with different disability statuses. A survey packet was mailed to a random sample of 1,000 employers selected from a national membership list of human resource professionals. The survey included a standardized measure for rating employers' impressions of job applicants' employability with respect to 22 key employment-related traits. Employers were asked to rate the job applicants' suitability for employment in a hypothetical administrative assistant position. Findings show that job applicants without a disability received the highest mean employability ratings. Job applicants with an acquired brain injury were rated substantially the same as those with schizophrenia. Implications for social work practice and research are discussed.

            KEY WORDS: Disability Status; Employability; Job Applicants; Employers.

10. Cameron, L., & Murphy, J. (2002). Enabling young people with a learning disability to make choices at a time of transition. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30(3), 105-112.

            A study examined whether Talking Mats, a light-technology augmentative framework, could be used successfully with 12 young adults with a learning and communication disability. Participants were able to indicate likes and dislikes and express views about the choices available to them. Some expressed opinions not previously known to their carers.

            KEY WORDS: Assistive Technology; Augmentative and Alternative Communication; Decision-Making; Interpersonal Communication; Mental Retardation; Personal Autonomy; Pictorial Stimuli; Secondary Education; Self Determination; Transitional Programs; Young Adults.

11. Charlton, J. I. (2000). Nothing about us without us: Disability oppression and empowerment. Berkeley: University of California Press.

            This book examines the lived oppression that people with disabilities have experienced and continue to experience as a human rights tragedy. There are a number of unifying arguments that run throughout this book which attempt to synthesize both the conditions of disability oppression and the exigencies of its resistance: 1) the oppression of 500 million people with disabilities is rooted in the political-economic and cultural dimensions of everyday life; 2) the poverty, isolation, indignity, and dependence of these 500 million people with disabilities is evidence of a major human rights catastrophe and a fundamental critique of the existing world system; 3) the scant attempts to theorize the conditions of everyday life for people with disabilities are either incomplete or fundamentally flawed as a result of the medicalization/depoliticization of disability and the failure to account form the vast majority of people with disabilities who live in the Third World; 4) a disability-based consciousness and organization is emerging throughout the world which has begun to contest both the oppression people with disabilities experience and the depoliticization of that experience; 5) the political-economic and socio-cultural dimensions of disability oppression determine who is affected and the form resistance takes; 6) notwithstanding the importance of political-economic and socio-cultural differences, all the individuals and organizations that have taken up the cause of disability rights in the last twenty years have embraced the concepts of empowerment and human rights, independence and integration, and self-help and self-determination; and 7) these leitmotifs suggest a necessarily fundamental reordering of global priorities and resources based on equality, respect, and control of resources by the people and communities that need them.

            KEY WORDS: Disability Oppression; Disability Rights; Empowerment; Political Economy; Consciousness; Alienation; Self-determination.

12. Church, K. (2001). Learning to walk between worlds: Informal learning in psychiatric survivor-run businesses: A retrospective re-reading of research process and results from 1993-1999. NALL Working Paper No. 20. Toronto: Centre for the Study of Education and Work, OISE/UT. Available at: http://www.nall.ca/.

            Using a new lens of informal learning, Church revisits processes and results of six years of research with psychiatric survivors working in psychiatric survivor-run businesses. Church reports on three dimensions of social learning: solidarity learning, reshaping the definition of self, and organizational learning. Key aspects of organizational learning that she reports include peer training, on-the-job learning, trial and error learning, and "failing forward."

            The author concludes by presenting examples of successful learning and management practices such as: using membership and team meetings to communicate background information, spending time with employee board members before board meetings, reading feedback through body language, and staying connected to your workforce and key employees.

            KEY WORDS: Disability; Illness; Informal Learning; Organizational Learning; Work.

13. Church, K., Frazee, C., Luciani, T., Panitch, M., & Seeley, P. (2006). Dressing corporate subjectivities: Learning what to wear to the bank. In S. Billett, M. Somerville & T. Fenwick (Eds.), Work, Subjectivity and Learning. New York: Springer.

            In this Chapter the authors convey the research team's learning about their own subjectivity - of who they are - which emerged in the course of doing a study with a large financial institution ("Everybank") of learning practices of disabled employees. The authors discuss a variety of practices the team learned for fitting in when entering corporate spaces and interacting with corporate managers: how to dress, how to write, how to speak, and how to disappear. Subheadings like "Melanie gets dressed" give specific examples of team members' experiences of learning (or being trained) in relation to corporate culture. The authors credit this ongoing learning, and the data each team member's "subjective shifts" generates (p. 11), with drawing the team's attention to areas of employee experience, like clothing practices, they might otherwise have overlooked. Through learning who they, the research team, are in the corporate environment they discovered a question they should ask themselves in the course of their research with Everybank: "What kind of self do I need to (learn to) become to be a successful worker in this environment?"

            KEY WORDS: Corporate Culture; Disability; Identity; Informal Learning; Methods.

14. Church, K., & Luciani, T. (2005). "Stepping to the rhythm of circumstance:" A choreography of corporate disability: Reprise. Paper presented at the 2005 annual conference of the Research Network on Work and Lifelong Learning (WALL), Toronto, ON: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto. Retrieved September 29, 2006 from http://www.wallnetwork.ca/resources/workingpapers.htm.

            Church and Luciani report findings from the study "Doing Disability at the Bank." The purpose of the study is to discover learning strategies that disabled people initiate and rely on to keep jobs within corporate environments during global restructuring. The inductive inquiry was designed around conversations: individual interviews with a standpoint sample of disabled people with substantial work histories, focus groups with self-identified disabled bank workers and non-disabled co-workers, participant observation, and documentary analysis. The study exhibited three characteristics of second wave feminist epistemology and methodology: reflexivity, emotionality, and innovation in the face of exclusion. Church and Luciani highlighted four kinds of work: the work of keeping up, which highlights effects of the pace of work and expectations for productivity; the work of waiting, which explores waiting for equipment and waiting to be understood; the work of hiding, which explores ways in which employees manage disclosure; and the work of keeping it light, which uncovers disabled employees use of humour to teach and to create an impression of cheeriness.

            KEY WORDS: Body; Corporate Culture; Disability; Informal Learning; Methods; Workplace Learning.

15. Church, K., Panitch, M., Frazee, C., & Luciani, T. (2006). Recognizing the invisible work of doing corporate disability. Paper presented at the 2006 annual conference of the Network on Work and Lifelong Learning, Toronto, ON: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto. Retrieved September 29, 2006 from http://www.wallnetwork.ca/ resources/workingpapers.htm

            Findings from the study "Doing disability at the bank: Discovering the learning/teaching strategies used by disabled bank employees" are presented. The authors analyzed conversations of employees who identified as ”disabled,“ and another for coworker/manager ”others”, from seven focus groups in three Canadian cities to learn about what it's like to work in a corporate bank environment. The researchers learned that disability is both a bodily experience and an organizational construct, with distinct purposes within and for the organization. From coworker groups they observed that the perfect employee has a lean and mean lifestyle. They saw the corporation's commitment to a diverse workforce in tension with the drive for revenue. From disabled groups they learned that disabled employees prefer to stay hidden. Learning to conceal parts of themselves and their bodies was a form of work that had to be learned through trial and error - learning to create a virtual, able-bodied identity. The authors conclude that informal learning practices conceal an underlying politics of personal responsibility in which disabled employees hesitate to ask for workplace accommodations, and where humour is a key quality of success in a corporate environment. The result of self-deprecating humour combined with politics of individual responsibility is disabled employees who make working in a corporate environment look easy.

            KEY WORDS: Attitudes; Corporate Culture; Disability; Informal Learning; Work.

16. Delin, A. (2002). Handbook of good practice: Employing disabled people. London: Arts Council of England.

            This document has extracts from the Arts Council of England publication "Handbook of Good Practice-Employing Disabled People". This Handbook takes employers, advisors and employees through all aspects of recruitment and retention. Excerpts focus on in-depth case studies, a section for Associates and mentors providing information and advice for anyone taking on a supporting role, recruitment and learning programme documents, and a directory of contact details for a wide range of arts, disability, employment & training organisations.

            KEY WORDS: People with Disabilities; Employment; England; Affirmative Action Programs; People with Disabilities in Art; Apprenticeship Programs; "At Risk".

17. Duckett, P. S. (2000). Disabling employment interviews: Warfare to work. Disability & Society, 15(7), 1019-1039.

            Employment interview research displays a greater concern for refining employment interviews to benefit employers rather than prospective employees. The interviewee's perspective is often overlooked. Further, generally scant attention has been paid to the interview experiences of disabled interviewees. This study presents findings from a project that sought to understand disabled interviewees' experiences of employment interviews. The analysis suggests that such experiences were dominated by feelings of anxiety and manipulation, especially when contextualized within contemporary labour market conditions. The need for ethical rather than technical concerns into employment interviews and how innovations in interview techniques may be having a negative affect on interviewees was examined. The study stressed the need to reject victim blaming ideologies when researching disabled interviewees' experiences of employment interviews to counter the over emphasis of past research into changing the disabled person rather than the disabling interview environment.

            KEY WORDS: Employment Interviews; Interview Techniques; Negative Effects; Anxiety; Manipulation; Labour Market Conditions.

18. Dudley-Marling, C. (2004). The social construction of learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37(6), 482-489.

            Underpinning the technical gaze that dominates learning disabilities theory and practice is the assumption that learning disabilities are a pathology that resides in the heads of individual students, with the corollary that remedial efforts also focus on what goes on in the heads of students classified as learning disabled. This article begins with a critique of the ideology of individualism that situates individual success and failure in the heads of individuals as a means of introducing an alternative perspective - social constructivism - that locates learning and learning problems in the context of human relations and activity. Extended examples are used to illustrate how the performative aspects of learning disabilities emerge in the context of human relationships. The primary argument developed here is that one cannot be learning disabled on one's own. It takes a complex system of interactions performed in just the right way, at the right time, on the stage we call school to make a learning disability. The article concludes with a brief consideration of the instructional implications of a social constructivist stance.

            KEY WORDS: Pathology; Learning Problems; Human Relations; Constructivism; Learning Disabilities.

19. Dyck, I., & Jongbloed, L. (2000). Women with multiple sclerosis and employment issues: A focus on social and institutional environment. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67(5), 337-346.

            Examines employment issues for women with multiple sclerosis. Focuses on experiences of women managing their disability and demonstrates the importance of the social and institutional dimensions of environment in shaping occupational performance.

            KEY WORDS: Adults; Disabilities; Employed Women; Females; Occupational Therapy; Organizational Climate; Work Environment; Multiple Sclerosis.

20. England, K. (2003). Disabilities, gender and employment: Social exclusion, employment equity and Canadian banking. The Canadian Geographer, 47(4), 429-450.

            Investigates the numerical representation and occupational distribution of women and men with disabilities compared to their non-disabled counterparts working in six of Canada's large banking institutions under the federal government's Employment Equity Act. It accesses the banks' progress towards identifying and eliminating discriminatory disabling barriers. Results from the 2001 Employment Equity Report shows the representation of persons with disabilities declined in 2003, which continues a declining trend from 1996. Furthermore, of all the designated groups, people with disabilities have had the least progress under the Act. The study closes with a discussion on workplace culture and locates the Act in the context of a broader discussion on the need for a network of economic and social change that includes challenging ableism.

            KEY WORDS: Accommodation; Disability; Diversity; Workplace Culture; Employment Equity Act; Numerical Representation; Occupational Distribution; Banking Institutions; Canada; Discrimination; Employment Trends.

21. Fawcett, G. (2000). Breaking down the barriers: The labour market and women with disabilities in Ontario. Ottawa: Canadian Council on Social Development.

            This report provides statistics on working-age women with disabilities in Ontario. It employs quantitative and qualitative research and provides insights into the complex interplay of factors that create employment barriers for women with disabilities. While women and men with disabilities are typically both affected by the same barriers to employment, they are not always affected to the same degree or in the same way. Because of both their gender and their disability, women often face a unique obstacle course when trying to navigate their way through the world of paid work. Findings show women with disabilities have the lowest rates of labour force success and one of the highest rates of poverty. This report comes at a time when programs and policies in Ontario and across Canada are changing and evolving in response to In Unison, the latest vision paper for persons with disabilities.

            KEY WORDS: Employment Barriers; Ontario; Working-age Women; Disabilities; Labour Market; Discrimination; Earnings; Poverty.

22. Ferri, B. A., Hendrick Keefe, C., & Gregg, N. (2001). Teachers with learning disabilities: A view from both sides of the desk. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(1), 22-32.

            This qualitative multi-case study explores the perceptions of individuals who have experiences from both sides of the special education desk as students and then as teachers with learning disabilities. The study focused on how participants' past experiences with receiving special education services influenced their current practice as special education teachers. Participants' views on service delivery models, the importance of teacher expectations, and the value of conceiving a learning disability as a tool rather than a deficit were discussed.

            KEY WORDS: Special Education; Students with Disabilities; Teachers with Learning Disabilities; Service Delivery Models; Teacher Expectations.

23. Gates, L. B. (2000). Workplace accommodation as a social process. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 10(1), 85-98.

            Successful sustained employment for people with disabilities is a function of a complex array of factors. Key among these factors is appropriate accommodation at the workplace. Current approaches to accommodation, however, are often unsuccessful. Research suggests that this is due, in part, to the limited view of accommodation as technical changes to the job. An approach to accommodation that does not take into account the social context ignores the consequences of the process on work group morale and individual self-esteem and well-being. This has repercussions for individual job performance, job satisfaction and work retention, as well as overall work group productivity. An intervention was designed to take into account the social nature of the accommodation process and pilot tested with 12 workers who were out on a short term disability leave with a psychiatric diagnosis and their work groups. Based on a psychoeducational model, the intervention educates the work group about what it means to work with a disability, provides a safe environment where the worker with disability and coworkers can share concerns about the impact of accommodation on the group, informs about the accommodation process and specifies strategies to help the worker with disability best meet job requirements.

            KEY WORDS: Accommodation; Disabilities; Psychoeducation; Employment; Return to Work; "At Risk".

24. Gerber, P. J., & Price, L. A. (2003). Persons with learning disabilities in the workplace: What we know so far in the Americans with Disabilities Act era. Learning Disabilities: Research & Practice, 18(2), 132-136.

            This paper synthesizes empirical studies from the past 12 years concerning the realities of the workplace for adults with learning disabilities (LD). Employer perspectives address awareness and knowledge, productivity, training, self-advocacy, and reasonable accommodations. Employee perspectives cover advocacy, disclosure, self-knowledge, and reasonable accommodations.

            KEY WORDS: Adult Education; Adults; Civil Rights Legislation; Employee Attitudes; Employer Attitudes; Employer Employee Relationship; Federal Legislation; Learning Disabilities; Work Environment Americans with Disabilities Act 1990; "At Risk".

25. Gerber, P. J., Price, L. A., Mulligan, R., & Shessel, I. (2004). Beyond transition: A comparison of the employment experiences of American and Canadian adults with LD. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37(4), 283-291.

            With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, there is a new work environment for individuals with learning disabilities (LD) in North America. This qualitative study sought to compare the employment experiences of 25 U.S. adults with LD and 24 Canadian adults with LD. Areas of comparison were job getting, experiences on the job, and job advancement. Remarkably, the U. S. and Canadian adults with LD had nearly the same employment experiences. In essence, each set of data mirrored the other despite marked differences in U.S. and Canadian federal disability legislation.

            KEY WORDS: Work Environment; Employment Experience; Learning Disabilities; Accessibility; Americans with Disabilities Act 1990; North America; United States.

26. Gosling, V., & Cotterill, L. (2000). An employment project as a route to social inclusion for people with learning difficulties? Disability & Society, 15(7), 1001-1018.

            Government policy to reduce social exclusion focuses on increasing employment opportunities and incentives, especially for disadvantaged groups. This paper evaluates a project in the North West of England for people with learning difficulties which sought to create opportunities for paid and/or integrated employment. Findings suggest that this goal can be undermined by many factors such as the isolation of social care services from employers and the disinclination of service organizations to include users, carers and staff in the development of new service approaches. Social welfare policies also mitigate against this aim, by failing to enable providers to translate the rhetoric of social inclusion into a reality. It concludes by discussing some obstacles that prevent people with learning difficulties from inclusion into mainstream employment and the overall impact of these results on the North West project.

            KEY WORDS: Social Exclusion; Disabled People; England; Paid Employment; Learning Difficulties; Social Welfare Policies.

27. Grover, C., & Piggott, L. (2005). Disabled people, the reserve army of labour and welfare reform. Disability & Society, 20(7), 705-717.

            Explaining why in contemporary society there has been many changes to income maintenance and labour market policy for disabled people. From a regulation approach theoretical framework. This article focuses on the debate over whether disabled people can be considered part of the reserve army of labour. Rejecting approaches that suggest that all disabled people are part of the reserve army, it contends that the policy changes have been aimed at reconstructing unemployed disabled people as an important part of the reserve army at a time when labour markets are becoming tighter. Disabled people are seen to be crucial to New Labour's regulation of neo-liberal accumulation.

            KEY WORDS: Disabilities; Disabled (Attitudes Toward); Employment Status; Government Policy Making; Welfare Services (Government); Income Level; Supported Employment; "At Risk".

28. Hall, E. (1999). Workspaces: Refiguring the disability - employment debate. In R. Butler & H. Parr (Eds.), Mind and body spaces: Geographies of illness, impairment and disability (pp. 138-154). New York: Routledge.

            Hall refigures the disability employment debate, introducing an idea of embodiment into discussions that previously focused on either the medical or social model of disability. He argues that we need an approach to disability that allows the everyday experiences of disabled people in. He says disability is not exclusively an individual pathology nor a socially constructed concept. Using McDowell (1994) and Hochschild (1983)'s studies of body normalization, and codes and rules of the body in employment, Hall studies a major high-street banking company, and specifically one woman experience, to illustrate the value of an embodied approach. Hall draws three key issues from the case study discussion: Employment has real effects on the employee's body and the body then has real effects on employment, these interactions and expectations take place within a framework of rules, codes, and performance about which bodies are acceptable and which aren't, and employment operates within certain work spaces, and employees work out their position and identity within these spaces. According to Hall the relationship between the body and work in space lies at the heart of the disability-employment relationship.

            KEY WORDS: Body; Disability; Work.

29. Howard, M. (Ed.). (2002). Not just the job. Report of a working group on disabled people using personal assistance and work incentives. York; North Yorkshire: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

            This book involves an examination of the issues around work incentives for disabled people using personal assistance and around charging for support packages. This book examines issues around work incentives and charging for support packages in the light of new guidance to social services authorities. Drawing on the experience of a working group, set up by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the National Centre for Independent Living and the Disability Rights Commission, the author examines the context within which organisations like the Independent Living Fund and social services departments calculate an individual’s financial contribution towards their support package. The book looks at the impact on the individual, as well as specific barriers to work faced by personal assistance users, including negative assumptions about disability and work. A key objective considered by the working group was a ‘level playing field’ between those who use assistance and those who do not. The book explores the principles that the group felt flowed from this objective and against which policy options could be measured.

            KEY WORDS: Disabled Workers; "At Risk".

30. Jolly, D. (2000). A critical evaluation of the contradictions for disabled workers arising from the emergence of the flexible labour market in Britain. Disability & Society, 15(5), 795-810.

            In Britain, as in all industrialized countries “paid work” or employment is central to the economy of the state. This perspective raises important implications for theories of disability and work and for further research in this area. This paper attempts to provide a critical evaluation of the contradictions arising from the flexible labour market for disabled workers and how the concept of the Disabled State has been eroded along with notions of disabled people as the “deserving poor”'. Policies now demonstrate a commitment to a labour market free from restrictive practices and regulation. It appears that new technologies and specific personal communication skills, initiative, flexibility and adaptability will play an increasing part in new labour working trends. In short, theories of disability and work must change focus from “production” to ”process”'.

            KEY WORDS: Workers with Disabilities; Labour Market; Britain; 'Deserving Poor'; New Technologies.

31. Jongbloed, L. (2003). Disability policy in Canada: An overview. Journal of Policy Studies, 13(4), 203-209.

            Over the last century there has been a shift from conceptualizing disability as a challenge to law and order to viewing disability as a medical and/or economic deficit and then as a socio-political issue. In Canada, these changing conceptualizations of disability have been reflected in the development of disability policies, which form part of general Canadian social policies. Each model of disability captures a particular aspect of disability and focuses on particular goals and each depicts a different account of what society owes people with disabilities. However, the lack of linkages between the models and their conceptual bases means that no one model can be used to guide disability policy development. Decision making about the goals of disability policy and the rights of people with disabilities requires the development of a normative foundation.

            KEY WORDS: Disability; Social Policies; Canada; People with Disabilities.

32. Kerka, S. (2002). Learning disabilities and career development. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED).

            The lifelong process of career development poses special challenges for people with learning disabilities (LD). Literature on employment issues for adults with LD frames on-the-job problems in terms of individual deficits or recasts the issues as a function of the significant societal barriers faced by those who do not fit the norm. Research on high school and college students with LD shows a multifaceted career development program is needed. Many lacked clear understanding of their disability and its impact on career choices and ability to perform a job; many youth with LD had unrealistic or no career ambitions; and a large number were not actively engaged in career development and believed they had little control over career decision making. A model for career success of adults with LD is comprised of these seven factors: internal decisions (powerful desire to succeed, clear sense of goal orientation, reframing the LD experience) and external manifestations (persistence, goodness of fit, learned creativity, social network providing support). Practices to assist persons with LD gain and maintain employment are accurate self knowledge; world-of-work knowledge; self-efficacy enhancement; self-advocacy skills; job search skills; and development of personal qualities. Programs illustrating them are Pathways to Satisfaction; Fashion Institute of Technology career development support for students with LD; and Life Development Institute's SCANS-based transition-to-postsecondary program.

            KEY WORDS: Adult Education; Career Choice; Career Development; Colleges; Demonstration Programs; Education Work Relationship; Employment; Goal Orientation; High Schools; Higher Education; Learning Disabilities; Models; Occupational Aspiration; Program Descriptions; Program Development; Self Concept; Self Evaluation; Self Management; Social Support Groups; Tenure.

33. Kilsby, M. S., & Beyer, S. (2002). Enhancing self-determination in job matching in supported employment for people with learning disabilities: An intervention study. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 17(2), 125-135.

            The study examines effectiveness of interventions aimed to assist job seekers with mental retardation to increase vocational choices. Results indicate possibility for increased vocational choices through short, even a 1-day training sessions.

            KEY WORDS: Job Search; Learning Disabilities; Mental Retardation; Self Determination; Supported Employment; Coaches; Occupational Choice; "At Risk".

34. Klinger, M. G. M. (2002). Organizational culture and people with disabilities. Disability Studies Quarterly, 22(1), 21-25.

            Klinger's article applies identifies two reasons why we have not solved the problem of diversity in the workplace specifically to people with disabilities: perceptual and attitudinal barriers (stereotyping, fear), and employers perceive a legal barrier (does hiring a person with a disability mean she can never be fired?). According to Klinger, in the workplace people with disabilities often need better qualifications than people without disabilities to achieve comparable employment. Klinger offers recommendations for how to counteract perceptual barriers. She suggests educational internships as a way to produce cultural change. More broadly she calls for employers to accept the burden of "fitting in," rather than the new employee.

            KEY WORDS: Disability; Diversity; Organizational Culture.

35. Krahn, H., Derwing, T., & Wilkinson, L. (2000). Educated and underemployed: Refugee integration into the Canadian labour market. International Journal of Migration Review, 1(1), 59-84.

            This study explores issues of access to high-status occupations in the Canadian labor market, with particular emphasis on refugees who were in professional or managerial positions prior to their arrival in Canada. The study is based on interviews with a sample of 525 adult refugees who were initially resettled in the province of Alberta between 1992 & 1997. About two thirds of the respondents came from the former Yugoslavia, the remainder from countries in the Middle East, Central America, Africa, & Southeast Asia. Despite the generally high educational attainment of these refuges, the results show that they experience much higher rates of unemployment, part-time employment, & temporary employment than do Canadian-born individuals. A variety of structural factors operating in a segmented Canadian labor market help to explain the downward mobility of these highly qualified refugees. The policy implications of these results are examined in detail.

            KEY WORDS: Canada; Alberta; Labor Market; Refugees; Underemployment; Employment Opportunities; Occupational Mobility; Labor Market Segmentation.

36. Lee, C. M. (2005). Evolution. Learning Disability Quarterly, 28(2), 182.

            In this article the author shares his personal experiences beginning in early childhood with his own learning disabilities. As an adult with learning disabilities, he describes how he has learned to manage his language and memory barriers through assistive technology and outside support, and he nourishes himself through therapy or simply surrounding himself with family and friends who understand his innovative use of language. Shortly after graduating from college, he developed a personal action plan that came to include standard tools, modifications and accommodations of task and expectations, and assistive technology. Today, individuals with disabilities have access to assistive technology through legislation, including the Assistive Technology Act of 1998. This law affirms that technology is a valuable tool for improving the lives of Americans with disabilities. It also affirms the federal role in funding and promoting access to assistive technology devices and services for individuals with disabilities. Neuropsychologists today are helping to provide answers to cognition. Over time, this information will slowly funnel its way into academic and employment settings. The landscape of the brain is one of the most important areas of training for individuals with learning disabilities, parents, service providers, and employers. Through such newfound research and understanding, the field of learning disabilities will evolve to new heights in providing services and teaching students and employees. As more specifics on the workings of the brain emerge, a shift in education will occur, which will help define and unify the voices of individuals with learning disabilities.

            KEY WORDS: Coping; Assistive Technology; Special Education; Personal Narratives; Learning Disabilities; Federal Aid; Brain; Cognitive Processes; Memory; Federal Legislation; Education for All; Handicapped Children Act; "At Risk".

37. Madous, J. W., Foley, T. E., McGuire, J. M., & Ruban, L. M. (2002). Employment self-disclosure of postsecondary graduates with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35(4), 364-369.

One hundred and thirty-two graduates with learning disabilities (LD) of a large public competitive postsecondary institution were surveyed to determine if they had self-disclosed their LD to their current employer and to provide the reasons for choosing to self-disclose or not to self-disclose. Based on a response rate of 67.4%, the results indicated that 86.5% of the respondents were employed full-time. While nearly 90% of the respondents stated that their LD affected their work in some way, only 30.3% self-disclosed to their employer. Of those who had not self-disclosed, the majority reported that there was no reason or need to self-disclose. However, 46.1% reported not self-disclosing due to fear of a potentially negative impact in the workplace or due to a concern for job security. The results indicate that specific rationales for disclosure and the use of accommodations and strategies are used by disabled workers.

            KEY WORDS: Post-secondary Graduates; Learning Disabilities; Self-disclosure; Job Security; Workplace Discrimination; Accommodations.

38. Magee, W. (2004). Effects of illness and disability on job separation. Social Science & Medicine, 58, 1121-1135.

            Effects of illness and disability on job separation result from both voluntary and involuntary processes. Voluntary processes range from the reasoned actions of workers who weigh illness and disability in their decision-making, to reactive stress-avoidance responses. Involuntary processes include employer discrimination against ill or disabled workers. Analyses of the effects of illness and disability that differentiate reasons for job separation can illuminate the processes involved. This paper reports on an evaluation of effects of illness and disability on job separation predicted by theories of reasoned action, stress and employer discrimination against ill and disabled workers. Effects of four illness/disability conditions on the rate of job separation for 12 reasons are estimated using data from a longitudinal study of a representative sample of the Canadian population - the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). Two of the four effects that are statistically significant (under conservative Bayesian criteria for statistical significance) are consistent with the idea that workers weigh illness and disability as costs and calculate the costs and benefits of continuing to work with an illness or disability: (1) disabling illness increases the hazard of leaving a job in order to engage in caregiving, and (2) work-related disability increases the hazard of leaving a job due to poor pay. The other two significant effects indicate that: (3) disabling illness decreases the hazard of layoff, and (4) non-work disability increases the hazard of leaving one job to take a different job. This last effect is consistent with a stress-interruption process. Other effects are statistically significant under conventional criteria for statistical significance, and most of these effects are also consistent with cost-benefit and stress theories. Some effects of illness and disability are sex and age-specific and reasons for the specificity of these effects are discussed.

            KEY WORDS: Health Selection; Canada; Employer Discrimination; Job Separation; Labour Force Participation; Disability; Illness Behaviour; Stress.

39. Mason, M. G. (2004). Working against odds: Stories of disabled women's work lives. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

            Mason conducts an ethnographic study of 18 disabled women's relationships with work. She organizes the narratives under three chapter headings: the way we see ourselves, containing stories about integration, body image, identity and dependency; the way the world sees us, with stories about marginalization, "passing", and social constructions of disability; and the way we work, with stories about discrimination and strategies for self-sufficiency. Other themes addressed include confronting social marginalization, integration, claiming disability, coming to terms with the need for having caregivers, dealing with discrimination, and living in two worlds.

            KEY WORDS: Accommodation; Attitudes; Disability; Organizational Culture; Work.

40. McAlpine, D., D., & Warner, L. (2002). Barriers to employment among persons with mental illness: A review of the literature. Minneapolis: Rutgers State University.

            There is a strong relationship between mental illness and work-related disability. Psychiatric illnesses comprise the largest diagnostic category among working-aged adults who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Moreover, many persons with disabilities related to other general medical conditions also have psychiatric co-morbidities that complicate return to work. Yet, while it is clear that mental illness is associated with difficulties in vocational preparation, work entry, and continued employment, many persons with such conditions are able to secure and maintain employment. This review seeks to summarize what is known about barriers to work that may explain why some persons with mental illness and significant symptoms experience a work-related disability, while others do not. Additionally, characteristics of vocational programs that are associated with return to work among persons with psychiatric conditions are examined. The review summarizes what is known about barriers to employment in four areas: a) illness characteristics; b) client characteristics; c) access to services and mental health treatment; and d) characteristics of workplace and labour market. It is argued that there is a need for more general population studies considering how these barriers shape work-disability among persons with primary and co-morbid psychiatric conditions.

            KEY WORDS: Work-related Barriers; United States; Employment; Persons with Mental Illness; Literature Review.

41. Perry, D. A. (Ed.). (2004). Moving forward: Toward decent work for people with disabilities examples of good practices in vocational training and employment from Asia and the Pacific. Geneva: International Labour Organization.

            This volume offers policymakers, people with disabilities and especially service providers in Asia and the Pacific with examples of good practices related to various aspects of vocational training and employment. While each country needs to and should adopt policies based on equal opportunities and inclusion, this book primarily addresses practices. However, several of the examples demonstrate how national legislation, policies and government funding are needed to create an environment in which effective practices can flourish.

            KEY WORDS: Disability Studies; Asia; Vocational Education; Government Policy; "At Risk".

42. Price, L., Gerber, P. J., & Mulligan, R. (2003). The Americans with Disabilities Act and adults with learning disabilities employees: The realities of the workplace. Remedial and Special Education, 24(6), 350-358.

            Twenty-five adults with learning disabilities were queried to examine their employment experiences at job entry and in job advancement vis-a-vis the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Results suggest that Title 1 of the ADA is underutilized by individuals with learning disabilities in the workplace. Self-disclosure about disability was rare and reasonable accommodations were infrequently used.

            KEY WORDS: Adults; Civil Rights Legislation; Compliance; Employee Attitudes; Employees; Learning Disabilities; Self Disclosure; Work Environment; Americans with Disabilities Act 1990.

43. Riddell, S., Baron, S., & Wilson, A. (2001). The significance of the learning society for women and men with learning difficulties. Gender and Education, 13(1), 57-73.

            The project, "The Meaning of the Learning Society for Adults with Learning Difficulties," focused on lifelong learning opportunities available to people with learning difficulties & experiences of these services. The article begins by examining theories of late modernity, their use by feminist & disability studies theorists, & their relationship to ideas of a learning society. Using case study material, it is argued that the identities of people with learning difficulties are not chosen freely from a range of options but are socially ascribed. The status of learning difficulties is used as a dominant category to justify deprivation of basic political & economic rights. In addition, the lives of people with learning difficulties are structured by gender & class, & these intersect with the category of learning difficulties. For women & men, advantages of middle-class social & economic capital are overridden by the negative category of learning difficulties. In relation to gender, men with learning difficulties are more likely to receive post-school training, but in inappropriate areas of the labor market. Their domestic needs are also likely to be attended to by others, but in the absence of employment, they find themselves without any valued social role. Women with learning difficulties are also likely to be excluded from the labor market, but are more likely to be involved in reciprocal, albeit limited, social relationships. It is concluded that postmodernist theories are inadequate to describe the structuring of the lives of people with learning difficulties.

            KEY WORDS: Learning Disabilities; Social Class; Social Identity; Disadvantaged; Sex Differences; Social Closure; Social Inequality; Postmodernism; Theoretical Problems; Scotland; "At Risk".

44. Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2002). Sociocultural contexts of learning among adults with disabilities. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education(96), 47-57.

            The sociocultural constructs of race, class, and gender combined with disability create a powerful influence on education and work for adults with disabilities. The emergence of disability studies, rights, and culture challenges adult educators to consider the sociocultural implications of disability.

            KEY WORDS: Adult Education; Adult Learning; Civil Rights; Cultural Context; Disabilities; Race; Sex; Social Class; Sociocultural Patterns.

45. Roulstone, A. (2002). Disabling pasts, enabling futures? How does the changing nature of capitalism impact on the disabled worker and job seeker? Disability & Society, 17(6), 627-642.

            Disability scholars have invested much in a stage theory of capitalism, which affords little scope for disabled workers and job seekers this side of Socialism. Parallel discussions of choices and empowerment rarely penetrates the world of paid employment. Mainstream policy writers meanwhile have been concerned with an atheoretical appraisal of enhancing access to an retention of employment. Neither approach has entered into an examination of the changing nature of employment and the impact of wider relationship between state and capitalism. In this way, the important shift to new social movements in progressing identity and social rights may have overlooked the monumental, but not irreversible loss of power in the enabling state and of old social movements. The article offers a starting point in our understanding of the changing nature of employment, its likely impact on disabled people, whilst asking for a reappraisal of the possible links between old and new social movements.

            KEY WORDS: Employment Trends; Capitalism; Paid Employment; Disabilities; Social Movements.

46. Russell, M. (2002). What disability civil rights cannot do: Employment and political economy. Disability & Society, 17(2), 117-135.

            This study examines the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and claims it is both a liberal civil rights bill and a labour economics bill meant to increase the employment of disabled persons. The study suggests that the source of unemployment is in discriminatory attitudes of employers and physical barriers in the work environment. It suggests an inclusive society could be achieved for disabled people through regulations that create ”equal opportunity” in the labour market. It argues that at present, liberal reforms primarily focus on ”irrational” discriminatory attitudes and operates within an individualist framework. Furthermore, it maintains that civil rights legislation has not given sufficient attention to structural barriers, which ”rational” business practices and the economic system and class power relationships erect. This study examines the micro and macro-economic realities of U.S. capitalism, which directly impedes on disabled peoples' employment and perpetuates a disabling society. It concludes by maintaining that the failure of rights legislation to increase disabled people's employment, exposes the contradictions in promoting equal opportunity in a class-based unequal society.

            KEY WORDS: Political Economy; Disabilities; Employment; Unemployment; Discrimination; Physical Barriers; Work Environments; Equal Opportunities.

47. Sapey, B. (2004). Disability and social exclusion in the information society. In J. Swain, S. French, C. Barnes & C. Thomas (Eds.), Disabling Barriers-Enabling Environments (pp. 273-278). London: SAGE.

            This paper discusses the social model of disability as a process of marginalization, oppression, discrimination and exclusion. It views disability as a product of industrialization and claims the very specific demands of a new form of economy led to the construction of particular social responses to impairment, notably a hegemony of care and segregation. The purpose of this paper is to consider whether this particular process of disablement will continue within the information economy that began to emerge over the last quarter of the twentieth century or whether the process of exclusion will take another form.

            KEY WORDS: Social Model of Disability; Industrialization; Processes of Marginalization; Segregation; Information Economy; Social Exclusion.

48. Schartz, K., Schartz, H. A., & Blanck, P. D. (2002). Employment of persons with disabilities in information technology jobs: Literature review for "IT works". Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 20, 637-657.

            This article reviews relevant literature as to the labour pool of qualified individuals with disabilities and employment in information technology (IT) sector jobs. First, the article reviews the empirical literature on barriers to employment in IT for persons with disabilities. The examination then is extended to studies of barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities in other employment sectors. Findings illustrate the limited experiences that IT and non-IT companies have in employment and accommodating employees with disabilities. Implications are discussed for enhancing the employment of qualified workers with disabilities in IT through research, education, training, and mentoring programs.

            KEY WORDS: Individuals with Disabilities; United States; Employment; Information Technology; Literature Review; Education; Training; Mentoring Programs.

49. Schur, L., Kruse, D., & Blanck, P. (2005). Corporate culture and the employment of persons with disabilities. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 23, 3-20.

            The authors explore political implications for companies that want to create a more inclusive environment for people with disabilities. The authors explored theoretical models of treatment and attitudes toward employees with disabilities, strategies disabled employees use to shape expectations in the workforce, and the effects of organizational structures (values, practices) on the treatment of disabled employees. Shur and colleagues found that in the area of analyzing corporate culture and disability little work has been done, few definitive hypotheses exist, and little is known about the nature of the phenomenon. They identified specific areas for future study, including: collecting data in actual workplace settings; using multiple modes of analysis; conducting longitudinal and detailed case studies; and involving people with disabilities in all stages of the research process (e.g. participatory action research). They identify steps organizations can take to fully incorporate people with disabilities into organizational life, e.g. increase autonomy, review HR policies, etc.

            KEY WORDS: Attitudes; Corporate Culture; Disability; Methods; Organizational Learning; Work.

50. Schur, L. A. (2002). Dead end jobs or a path to economic well being? The consequences of non-standard work among people with disabilities. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 20, 601-620.

            This study uses data from the Current Population Survey, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and the Lexis search of legal cases. The data reveals that temporary employment, independent contracting, and part-time employment are almost twice as likely among workers with disabilities than those without disabilities. Non-standard workers with disabilities receive lower pay and few benefits due to the types of job they hold and the disability gaps within job types, which contributes to their high poverty rates. The study found disabled workers will continue to have high poverty rates even if these pay gaps are eliminated, because they work fewer hours than non-standard workers without disabilities and are concentrated in lower-paying jobs. In attempting to improve their opportunities through disability lawsuits, non-standard workers prevail in only a small minority of cases. The study concludes by discussing several policy implications from the lawsuits.

            KEY WORDS: Temporary Employment; Independent Contracting; Part-time Employment; Non-standard Workers; Workers with Disabilities; Low Earnings; Poverty; Disability.

51. Skrtic, T. M. (2005). A political economy of learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 28(2), 149-155.

            This article begins by reviewing the author's work on the social construction and representation of school failure as student disability an on the reconstruction of special education and public education to avoid the need for such representations. In the remaining sections, he identifies several trends in education and society and, by linking them, recommends that the field of learning disabilities join the struggle to create a strong democratic future for students and communities, a project that involves transforming education and American democracy itself and begins with a transformation of professionalism in education and special education.

            KEY WORDS: Special Education; Public Education; Democracy; Learning Disabilities; Academic Failure; Educational History; Politics of Education.

52. Spataro, S. E. (2005). Diversity in context: How organizational culture shapes reactions to workers with disabilities and others who are demographically different. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 23, 21-38.

            This article considers how an organization's culture affects the work experiences of employees who are different from the majority. Specifically, the author looks at values comprising an organization's culture to advance understanding of when and where incorporation of workers with disabilities and workers who are demographically different may have a positive impact on organizations. The author offers a model of the effects of greater diversity among employees in organizations and reviews organizational culture according to five dimensions: definition of diversity, emphasis on differences, social interaction process, reactions to policy, and general implications for diversity. Distinguishing between three types of organizational culture: culture of differentiation, culture of unity, and culture of integration, she highlights considerations for managers hoping to create a more productive, and inclusive workplace environment. She recommends workers with disabilities assess the cultural system at a potential employer's organization to get a sense of the likelihood of success within that work environment.

            KEY WORDS: Disability; Diversity; Organizational Culture.

53. Stapleton, D. C., & Burkhauser, R. V. (Eds.). (2003). The decline in employment of people with disabilities: A policy puzzle. Washington, DC: National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

            This book includes revised presentations from an October 2001 meeting of the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research and the Cornell Rehabilitation Research and Training Center that considered the validity of current data for measuring trends in the employment rate of people with disabilities and investigated the causes and consequences of the declining rate of employment shown in the data.

            KEY WORDS: Assistive Technology; Attitudes toward Disabilities; Chronic Illness; Data Interpretation; Demography; Disabilities; Disability Discrimination; Employment Opportunities; Employment Patterns; Employment Statistics; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Labor Market; Policy Analysis; Policy Formation; Research Problems; Supported Employment; Trend Analysis; Validity; Work Environment; Americans with Disabilities Act 1990; Medicaid; Medicare; Social Security; Disability; Insurance.

54. Stephens, D. L., Collins, M. D., & Dodder, R. A. (2005). A longitudinal study of employment and skill acquisition among individuals with developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 26(5), 469-486.

            Recent legislation, especially the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, generated the closure of institutions for people with disabilities and inclusion into community residences and employment. It has been well documented that individuals with developmental disabilities often experience difficulties with employment including both obtaining and maintaining jobs, and many researchers have looked for ways to make employment more successful.

            KEY WORDS: Employment Level; Vocational Rehabilitation; Supported Employment; Human Services; Developmental Disabilities; Longitudinal Studies; Skill Development; Job Skills; Americans with Disabilities Act 1990; Oklahoma.

55. Stern, D. (2002). Building the bridge between community college and work for students with learning disabilities. Perspective, 28(2), 17-20.

            This paper presents information to assist students with learning disabilities (LD), counselors, and employers in building a bridge between community college and employment. It argues that students must learn to articulate how their LD affects them in a variety of situations, especially those requiring learning and performing work related tasks. Information is then provided on: (1) what students with LD need to know about themselves; (2) questions that can aid teachers, counselors, and parents in identifying the functional impact of a learning disability; (3) a three-step process for determining the need for and type of accommodations a student may require in the type of work he or she is interested in seeking; (4) the importance of disability laws and requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act; (5) tips for employers; (6) types of questions students should ask in preparing for a job interview; (7) questions students should ask in identifying barriers and accommodations early in employment situations; (8) deciding whether to disclose a disability; (9) interview tips for students with LD; (10) legal and illegal interview questions; (11) fact-finding questions students should ask of the employer during a job interview; and (12) job retention for students with LD.

            KEY WORDS: Career Planning; Civil Rights Legislation; Community Colleges; Disabilities; Education Work Relationship; Employer Employee Relationship; Employment; Employment Interviews; Federal Legislation; Higher Education; Job Search Methods; Legal Responsibility; Postsecondary Education; Self Advocacy; Transitional Programs; Americans with Disabilities Act 1990; Reasonable Accommodation; Disabilities.

56. Steward, B. (2000). Fit to telework: The changing meaning of fitness in new forms of employment. Advances in Physiotherapy, 2(103-111).

            This study looks at concepts of fitness based on the notion of an ideal body through medical and social definitions of the body's fit with employment demands. However with the advent of new forms of computer-based work done outside the centralized office, conventional definitions of fitness are changing. This study looks at teleworkers' experiences of work and health and suggests that home-based computer work changes the experiences and definition of fitness at work. Teleworkers appear not to recognize conventional criteria by which symptoms are defined as illness and so continue working when previously they would have taken sickness leave. As employee/employer relationships change and labour markets become more uncertain, teleworkers also appear to mask illnesses in fear of losing their jobs. These responses result in them working longer into illness and returning sooner in convalescence. Also, when illness is identified, teleworkers work very long hours and take less time off work to compensate for low outputs of work. Reasons for this shift towards containment and masking are examined and the implications for therapists in relation to public health and rehabilitation.

            KEY WORDS: Telework; Disability; Employment and Health.

57. Titchkosky, T. (2003). Disability, self, and society. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

            This book is written by a teacher who has dyslexia. She discusses her experiences with dyslexia at work and in her personal life which is shared with her mate who is a blind sociologist/teacher. This book attends to the cultural processes of meaning-making surrounding disability. The lived experiences of both characters in this book provides a deeper understanding of the response of disability in society and its cultural renderings.

            KEY WORDS: Teachers; Disability; Employment Experiences; Cultural Processes.

58. White, L. F. (2002). Learning disability, pedagogies, and public discourse. College Composition and Communication, 53(4), 705-738.

            Analyzes the public and professional discourse of learning disability, arguing that medical models of literacy misdirect teaching by narrowing its focus to remediation. Considers how resurgent demands for behaviorist pedagogies make understanding their continuing appeal important to composition studies. Discusses implications for the college writing classroom.

            KEY WORDS: Educational Improvement; Higher Education; Learning Disabilities; Literacy; Models; Politics of Education; Remedial Programs; Public Discourse.

59. Wilton, R. (2004). From flexibility to accommodation: Disabled workers and the reinvention of paid work. Transactions, Institute of British Geographers (New Series), 29, 420-432.

            This article reports on a qualitative case study with disabled workers in Hamilton, Ontario. He explores the extent to which disabled workers can exercise control in their work environments and labour processes. Unpacking the assumption that employment means liberation from state dependence, he considers how paid work constitutes a site for disciplining of disabled bodies/minds in contemporary society. Wilton identified three themes that characterized work experiences: training and multi-tasking, speed of labour process, and emotional and aesthetic labour. Wilton found respondents' frequent lack of control made obtaining accommodation at work a challenge. Respondents evaluated themselves according to embodied ideals: speed, adaptation, emotional management. Many respondents were faced with a double bind: request accommodation and risk getting labeled a “problem worker,“ or fail to meet performance norms and risk getting labeled a “bad worker”. Withholding an accommodation request allowed workers to forge a “normal”' identity, but they risked disadvantage in a labour process modeled on a non-disabled norm. Making an accommodation request might improve a worker's labour process, but they risked getting labeled a recipient of 'special treatment' or provoking disciplinary reactions from supervisors, coworkers, or themselves. Wilton concludes, it is in employers' interests to ensure that accommodation remains constructed as a form of “special treatment” for a minority population precisely because it threatens to disrupt existing labour processes and organizational cultures. He recommends we critically assess the value placed on employment, recognize diversity, and move from flexibility to accommodation.

            KEY WORDS: Accommodation; Attitudes; Disability; Organizational Culture; Work.

60. Wonacott, M., E. (2003). Employment of people with disabilities. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

            This book discusses application of the ADA's 'triple standard' of reasonable accommodations for performing essential job functions without undue hardship. The goal is to match jobs to individual abilities. Ten years after the ADA's passage, workers with disabilities are older, work fewer hours and are more likely to be single and less likely to have a college degree. They are still disproportionately represented in low-growth, low-wage occupations. Under ADA, the individual has the right to choose when or whether to disclose his or her disability or related information, but employers cannot be expected to provide reasonable accommodation for an undisclosed disability. Job seekers are advised to script and rehearse disclosure, minimizing medical terms, omitting medical treatment history and describing the disability briefly with stress on strengths and willingness to improve and ability to perform with or without accommodations. Reasonable accommodations range from simple to complex and cheap to expensive; information on them is available from many sources, including websites. The text concludes by arguing for strengthened mechanisms to help workers with disabilities and employers find appropriate matches between jobs and skills.

            KEY WORDS: Assistive Technology; United States; Disabilities; Discrimination; Employment Practices; Equal Opportunities; Job Applicants; Self-disclosure; Adult Education; Employment Patterns; Salary; Labour Policy; Federal Legislation.

61. Wooten, L. P., & James, E. H. (2005). Challenges of organizational learning: Perpetuation of discrimination against employees with disabilities. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 23, 123-141.

            Using a multi-case study using newspaper accounts of disability discrimination in the workplace, the authors explore why organizations do not comply with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against workers with disabilities. The authors contend that failures in eliminating disability discrimination reflect difficulties in organizational learning. Wooten and James identify five learning barriers: discriminatory organizational routines, organizational defense routes, reliance on reactive learning, Window dressing, and Lack of vicarious learning. The authors recommend leadership adopt a proactive stance; organizations take responsibility for learning how to comply with the ADA; stop window dressing to appear disability friendly; engage in reactive, reflective and vicarious learning to develop effective routines that prevent discrimination; and consider the organizational culture that values and encourages fair treatment of employees with disabilities.

            KEY WORDS: Disability; Organizational Learning; Work.

62. Wright, A.-M. (2006). Provision for students with learning difficulties in general colleges of further education: Have we been going round in circles? British Journal of Special Education, 33(1), 33-39.

            In this article, Anne-Marie Wright, lecturer at the University of Chester, considers the current situation for students with severe learning difficulties in general colleges of further education. She presents findings from a critical review of the literature and a small-scale preliminary investigation which set out to explore the idea that, despite radical changes to the special school sector and to the structure and organisation of further education, provision in colleges of further education for these students is poorly focused. Students with severe learning difficulties experience provision that is, at best, circuitous and repetitive and that, at worst, leads individuals back into dependence, unemployment and social segregation. Using the outcomes of her own interviews and the scrutiny of inspection reports, Anne-Marie Wright provides a searching critique of current practice and an interesting set of recommendations for ways in which the situation could be radically reviewed and improved.

            KEY WORDS: Learning Problems; Literature Reviews; College Students; Attitudes toward Disabilities; Special Needs Students; Inclusive Schools; Foreign Countries; Criticism; Outcomes of Education; United Kingdom.