To Tell or Not to Tell; Disability Disclosure and Job Application Outcomes

Abstract

This article attempts to address partially the problem of ascertaining employers' decisions in the real world about hiring job applicants with a disability. Over a three month period, the research team responded to all (409) job advertisements for clerical positions that met certain parameters in the two major Hong Kong newspapers. Each advertisement received four application letters that were identical in every respect except one. One letter did not mention disability, one mentioned a hearing impairment, one mentioned walking with the assistance of crutches and one mentioned having recovered from a reactive depression. A positive outcome was judged to have occurred if the applicant was offered a job interview. A total of 1636 letters of application were sent and 331 positive responses were received. Multiple pairwise comparisons were made that demonstrated statistically significant differences between the non-disability group when compared with each of the disability groups. Comparisons of the disability groups with each other did not achieve levels of statistical significance. There was, however, a clear ranking of preference; people without a disability, followed by those with a hearing impairment, those using crutches to walk and finally, those who had had a depression.