Invisibility of disability and work experience as predictors of employment among community college students with disabilities

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Martz, Erin

Affiliations: Rehabilitation Counseling Program, Educational School, and Counseling Psychology Department, 4B Hill Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-2130, USA. Tel.: +1 573 884 2419; Fax: +1 573 884 5989; E-mail: martze@missouri.edu

Abstract: A random sample of 200 out 597 individuals with disabilities attending a community college were surveyed by mail. The Reactions to Impairment and Disability Inventory [20], the Internal-External Locus of Control [32], and a demographics page were administered, which included items on current employment and visibility of disability. A backward logistic regression was run to explore whether the psychological variables of locus of control, acknowledgment and adjustment to disability, and the demographic variables of perceived visibility of disability, age, education, marital status, age at onset of disability, and work experience predicted individuals' employment status in this sample. The results indicated that invisibility of disability and work experience were the most-likely contributors in predicting individuals' current work-status. Though the variable of work experience was retained in the last step of the logistic regression, it had an insignificant Wald statistic. Several indicators suggested that the variable of work experience was acting as a suppressor variable. The findings that individuals with invisible disabilities were sixteen times more likely to be employed than individuals with visible disabilities were discussed in terms of stigma and visibility of disability. Implications of these findings for rehabilitation counselors were briefly suggested.

Keywords: invisible disabilities, work experience, psychosocial reactions, employment and disability, community college students

Journal: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 153-161, 2003