Is disability really an obstacle to success? Impact of a disability simulation on motivation and performance

Abstract

In Western societies, statistics on the integration of people with disabilities into the labor market consistently indicate that this category of workers faces serious discrimination. Research has evidenced negative perceptions about their occupational skills, despite positive beliefs about their personal qualities. The main purpose of this study was to show how these subjective beliefs about disability can shape performance (speed and accuracy, Studies 1, 3, and 4) and self‐reported motivation (Studies 2, 3, and 4) of able‐bodied persons simulating a disability. Participants were 281 French students without disabilities who carried out a task either with or without a simulated disability. This simulated disability constituted an actual handicap to perform the task (Studies 1 and 2) or not (Studies 3 and 4). The first three studies were focused on cognitive abilities, whereas Study 4 introduced a job interview component. Results consistently showed that participants in the simulated disability situation completed the task more accurately than controls, but took more time to do so. Higher degrees of motivation and perseverance are found for participants in the simulated disability situation, except in a job interview setting. These results are important for understanding how subjective beliefs about persons with disabilities can constitute objective barriers to social participation, and more specifically, to access to the labor market.

Coping with mental health conditions at work and its impact on self-perceived job performance

“…The relationship between coping and performance is well-established (Tummers, 2016). For individuals with mental health conditions, it has been found that their negative self-image (Soeker et al, 2019), dysfunctional career expectancies, not seeking accommodations that help them perform (Kulkarni and Gopakumar, 2014), and the negative beliefs about the occupational skills of disabled individuals (Cohen et al, 2018) all negatively affect their job performance. Similarly, the stigma attached to mental health conditions negatively affects school performance (Talebi et al, 2016).…”

Disability awareness arena in Sweden: voices of learning toward community facilities, universal design and disability perspective

“…Previous research has focused on “disability simulations” from an educational perspective and pedagogical perspective (Burgstahler and Doe, 2004; Barney, 2012; Shakespeare and Kleine, 2013; Leo, 2016; Leo and Goodwin, 2016; Cohen et al , 2019). In Sweden, insight simulation has also been described on the basis of learning and pedagogic (Borg et al , 1999; Herbert, 2000).…”

Inclusion of people with disabilities at work: Integrative review

“…It is through their work that they transform society and make history, it is an essential category to explain the world and society, the past and the future, in a practice that transforms humans, taking on the task of building a new society (Clot, 2017). Work is part of people's lives, whether for its emotional value, accomplishment of life goals, or just for "survival", having a subjective meaning for each one (Cohen et al, 2019;Salvador-Ferrer, 2020). This meaning is influenced by the way the inclusion of the individual takes place.…”

“…According to research carried out by Carvalho-Freitas (2009), there is still a belief among managers in the need to separate PWD, whether in specific sectors or specialized companies (Cohen et al, 2019). The individual must adapt to the environment, while companies sometimes do not understand the importance of the adaptation of the workplace.…”