Page 267 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

COLELLA AND STONE
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that individuals with the same physical impairment vary greatly in their
self-conceptualizations. This impacts greatly on research because many
people who have impairments and may be considered by others to have
a disability do not report that they are disabled. Recent census data col­
lection has found that people unreliably report over time their disabil­
ity status (McNeil, 2000). In order to determine one's disability status, it
is best to ask about specific impairments than to ask about disability in
general (McNeil, 2000). This is in contrast to other types of discrimination
research where most respondents can very clearly, reliably, and unambigu­
ously self-classify into a category such as sex or race. This makes taking a
group-identity or relational demography approach to the study of disabil­
ity discrimination difficult.
Evaluation Type As previously noted, the vast majority of studies ex­
amined selection decision using either paper credentials, videotaped in­
terviews, or both. Given the inconclusive results of this research, we are
not going to suggest a moratorium on such research, but rather that re­
searchers broaden their choice of reactions. One such reaction is inclusion
into workgroups.
There exists in the rehabilitation literature several studies that examine
the factors affecting and the extent to which people with disabilities are
included in their workgroups. However, most of this research is qualita­
tive, focuses on people with mental retardation, and focuses on the skills
and behaviors of persons with disabilities (not the work environment). Re­
cently, a few studies in the management literature have studied inclusion
into workgroups (Colella & Varma, 1999; Stone & Michaels, 1993, 1994),
but there is still quite a bit to be done in this arena. Colella (1996) developed
a conceptual model for the socialization of people with disabilities in the
workplace that has yet to be tested. Because any bias in selecting people
with disabilities may be tempered by tax incentives or by EEOC concerns,
it is worthwhile to study how people with disabilities are actually treated
in the workplace.
A second issue that has been somewhat ignored in the I/O psychology
literature is that of accommodation. The ADA (1990) requires "reasonable
accommodation" so that a person with a disability can apply for a job,
perform a job, or enjoy benefits equal to those of other employees (EEOC
ADA handbook, 2003). This notion is different from that of equal treatment
specified by other civil rights legislation (Colella, 2001). Failure to provide
a needed accommodation, which is of reasonable cost, to a qualified in­
dividual with a disability can legally be viewed as discrimination and
should therefore be studied as a form of discrimination. There are three
outcomes associated with accommodation that need to be addressed by