Negotiating ‘Difference’: Representing Disabled Employees in the British Workplace

Foster, Deborah; Fosh, Patricia

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8543.2009.00748.x

Cited by 58 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Such reticence and resistance is evidenced in recent research, in that many employers lack formal procedures concerning adjustments for disabled employees (Foster and Fosh, 2010). In further current research it has also been found that employers are all too often caught in the Employees with Asperger syndrome habit of designing jobs that make insufficient allowance for difference (Foster and Wass, 2011).…”

Section: Employees Withmentioning

confidence: 92%

Examining the exclusion of employees with Asperger syndrome from the workplace

Richards

2012

Personnel Review

107

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine reasons for disproportionately high levels of exclusion from the workplace of adults with Asperger syndrome.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology adopted involves empirical analysis of secondary, qualitative datasets. The twin datasets applied are examined using labour process analysis.FindingsThe main findings highlight the role of new and subtle forms of management control, a deficient yet necessary conflict dynamic in the employment relationship, and a reluctance of employers to involve third parties, in the exclusion process.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited because of the use of secondary datasets. Further research should be based on primary data collection and analysis, particularly in terms of seeking the views of other important parties to the exclusion process.Practical implicationsThe problem of exclusion is unlikely to be improved without considering strategies to address the challenging customary social relations between employer and employee.Social implicationsImproving employment inclusion is likely to reduce mental health problems for adults with Asperger syndrome and reduce the burden on those who play a broader supporting role.Originality/valueThe topic of Asperger syndrome and employment has yet to permeate the academic literature on human resource management, employment relations and organisation studies.

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Section: Employees Withmentioning

confidence: 92%

Examining the exclusion of employees with Asperger syndrome from the workplace

Richards

2012

Personnel Review

107

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“…Debates on HRM have drawn upon a disability studies social model interpretation of disability to call for disability discrimination legislation (Barnes 1992) and an exploration of the impact of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) upon employer practices (Woodhams and Corby 2007). Foster (2007) considered legal entitlement and disabled workers' negotiations for reasonable adjustments and later the role of union offices in enabling such negotiations (Foster and Fosh 2010). However, Riach and Loretto (2009) suggest the emphasis in employment-related studies remains an individual or medicalized understanding of disability.…”

Section: Disability In Hrm and Diversity Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disability as Constructed Difference: A Literature Review and Research Agenda for Management and Organization Studies

Williams

Mavin

2012

Int J Management Reviews

106

116

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Disability theory and disabled people's voices have remained marginal in attempts to include a wider range of theoretical perspectives and voices in organization studies. This includes studies of the normative assumptions underpinning socially constructed categories of difference. This paper addresses this gap by reviewing the literature on social categories of difference, intersectional studies and studies across human resource management and diversity literatures. The argument here is that, while research has begun to move from an individualized discourse of disability, disability remains inadequately theorized as a constructed difference. The paper reviews the disability studies literature to identify the relevance of conceptualizing disability for work organizations, problematizes the concepts of disability and impairment and differentiates competing discourses of disability. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it offers an alternative social interpretation discourse which argues that disability is constructed as a negated difference through assumed ableism, which is a normative expectation of non‐disability. Second, it presents impairment effects as legitimate organizing requirements rather than individualized problems. The paper argues impairment effects, the effects of bodily and cognitive variation, have legitimate implications for how disabled people negotiate organizing contexts. Third, it develops a disability studies lens to advance theoretical approaches to the study of social categories of difference in the field of management and organization studies.

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“…This approach often focuses on the identity of the individual or groups marked as 'different' and can be pursued through case studies or narratives (examples include Anitha et al, 2012;Foster and Fosh, 2010;Williams-Whitt and Taras, 2010;Hebson, 2009). Whilst all these studies are intersectionally-sensitive and provide us with new insights into the experience of these hitherto neglected groups of workers, a number of writers warn against the dangers of essentialism, such that these insights are taken as representative of all workers who might fall within the same intersectional categories (Choo and Ferree, 2010;Dhamoon, 2011;Yuval Davis, 2006).…”

Section: The Challenge Of Taking An Intersectional Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersectionality: are we taking enough notice in the field of work and employment relations?

McBride

Hebson

Holgate

2014

Work, Employment and Society

179

140

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Intersectional analysis has been developing since its emergence from critical race feminism in the 1980s when it was used to conceptualise the inter-relationship of race and gender, and particularly, the experiences of discrimination and marginalisation of black women in employment. While its contribution has been much debated within sociological and gender specific journals, its use still remains relatively limited within studies of work and employment-relations. It is argued here that this field of study would benefit from greater engagement with and understanding of an intersectional approach both to the design and interpretation of research. Two lines of reasoning are put forward for this contention: firstly, that the intersectional approach contains an important caution against over-generalisation that has been obscured; secondly, separating the challenge for all academics to be more intersectionally-sensitive, from the methodological challenges of taking an intersectional approach, brings the significance of intersectionality into sharper relief.2

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Negotiating ‘Difference’: Representing Disabled Employees in the British Workplace

Cited by 58 publications

References 32 publications

Examining the exclusion of employees with Asperger syndrome from the workplace

Examining the exclusion of employees with Asperger syndrome from the workplace

Disability as Constructed Difference: A Literature Review and Research Agenda for Management and Organization Studies

Intersectionality: are we taking enough notice in the field of work and employment relations?

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