The importance of disability representation to address implicit bias in the workplace

Daniel W Derbyshire; Anne E Spencer; Brit Grosskopf; Theo Blackmore

doi:10.3389/fresc.2023.1048432

The importance of disability representation to address implicit bias in the workplace

Front Rehabil Sci. 2023 Mar 22:4:1048432. doi: 10.3389/fresc.2023.1048432. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Daniel W Derbyshire¹, Anne E Spencer², Brit Grosskopf³, Theo Blackmore⁴

Affiliations

¹ European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
² Health and Community Sciences, University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Economics, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
⁴ disAbility Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Truro, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Introduction: People are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment. Barriers can be physical or be caused by people's implicit and explicit attitudes towards people with disabilities.

Methods: We utilise the Implicit Association Test to investigate implicit attitudes towards people with disabilities among Human Resource professionals and people involved in making hiring decisions.

Results: We find no significant differences between people who work for large companies or Small- to Medium-sized Enterprises. Similarly, working in Human Resources (or making recruitment decisions) has no effect on implicit bias. We supply the first evidence linking a person's own health status (measured using EQ-5D-5L) to their implicit bias. We find that a worse health status is associated with lower implicit bias towards people with disabilities. In addition, we find women have lower implicit bias than men.

Discussion: The discussion reflects on the need for greater disability representation within the workplace - especially in making hiring decisions.

Keywords: disability; employment; human resources; implicit biases; workplace.

Grants and funding

This work was conducted under The Inclusivity Project. The Inclusivity Project is financially supported by the European Regional Development Fund, project number 05R17PO2212.