New Employment Dev

Disability Inclusion and Employment – Making Flexible Work

The Great Lakes ADA Center conducts research on emerging ADA issues as they relate to disability inclusion in large businesses. Our projects explore pressing and critical areas to meet the information needs of different stakeholders. As workplaces are rapidly transforming to become more flexible, questions about disability inclusion, employment policies, and accommodations are becoming more frequent. Flexibility can mean a lot of different things when it comes to disability inclusion, and there are information gaps about how and what it takes to make flexible arrangements successful. Some of the most common flexible arrangements include telecommuting or telework and remote work, varied scheduling, and compressed workweeks. Arrangements are sometimes made available to all employees and they can also be the result a disability related accommodation.

The goal of this project is to better understand how employers and employees make these arrangements successful and align with the broader goals of the ADA. The Making Flexibility Work project includes a series of data collection efforts including interviews and focus groups with people with disabilities and employers. We are currently looking for people with disabilities and chronic health conditions to share their stories about flexibility at work.

Objective

The purpose of this research is to identify promising practices about disability-inclusive flexible work policies and environments. Findings will be shared widely with others interested in effective practice to supporting the recruitment, inclusion, and retention of workers with disabilities and chronic health conditions.

Intended Audience

People with disabilities and chronic health conditions; businesses, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) professionals, HR representatives

Impact

• Improved understanding of organizational approaches to flexibility
• Creating plain language summaries, training materials, webinars, and resource guides on common flexible work arrangements
• Outreach to people with intersectional identities and experiences with different employee resource groups
• Improved understanding of the information needs and barriers of Spanish Speaking communities.
• Applied case studies and scenarios and tools for providing technical assistance.

Publications

• Mullin, C., Gould, R., Harris, S. P., & Jones, R. (2023). Disability and the Diversity Framework in the Post-Pandemic Workplace. Research in Social Science and Disability: Disability in the Time of Pandemic. Emerald Publishing Limited.
• Gould, R., Mullin, C., Parker Harris, S., & Jones, R. (2022). Building, sustaining and growing: disability inclusion in business. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.
• Gould, R., Parker Harris, S. Mullin, C., and Jones, R. (2020). Disability, Diversity, and Corporate Social Responsibility: Learning from Recognized Leaders in Inclusion. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Research Team

Robert Gould (Principal investigator)
Sarah Parker Harris (Co-principal investigator)
Mariana Garcia-Torres (Post-Doctoral Fellow)
Annette Malakoff (Graduate research assistant)
Gus Budiarta (Graduate research assistant)

HOPE – Hispanic Outreach for People with Disabilities in Employment

The HOPE research project is part of a broader initiative to improve outreach and improve knowledge about the ADA amongst Spanish speaking communities within our region. The Great Lakes region has a diverse population, with Latinos being the second-largest minority group in the region with a population of approximately 4.5 million people. Approximately 10% of the population has a disability. Employment is a critical issue for this growing population.

People with disabilities and their families encounter numerous barriers to accessing and using information about their rights. Research conducted in our region identified several barriers impacting Spanish speaking communities connected to culturally relevant information, stigma, and the need to build greater trust with local Spanish speaking community organizations. This research involves a series of qualitative interviews with people with disabilities, family members, and community members about the understanding and experiences with the ADA in relation to employment.

Objective

The purpose of this research is to better understand the information needs and remove barriers to informing Spanish Speaking communities about the ADA in relation to employment.

Intended Audience

People with disabilities and their families in Spanish Speaking organizations, community organizations, businesses.

Impact

• Improved relationships with organizations serving people with disabilities and their families in Spanish Speaking Communities.
• Facilitated outreach to underserved populations.
• Created trainings on webinars on Title I of the ADA; disability in Latino communities; and barriers and facilitators to implementing disability rights in employment for Spanish language communities.
• Improved understanding of the information needs and barriers of Spanish Speaking communities.
• Applied case studies and scenarios and tools for providing technical assistance

Publications

In progress! Stay tuned

Other Resources

• In Brief: Disability, The ADA, and Spanish Speaking Communities.
• The ADA and Small Businesses in Spanish Speaking Communities.

Research Team

Sarah Parker Harris (Co-principal investigator)
Robert Gould (Principal investigator)
Mariana Garcia-Torres (Post-Doctoral Fellow)
Oscar Gonzalez (Spanish Language Outreach Coordinator)