"If you can't do it now, you're out the door:" Employees with traumatic brain injury – A case study

Issue title: Work and Disability

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Sabatello, Maya

Affiliations: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University,722 West 168th Street, Room R720E, New York, NY, USA. E-mail: ms4075@columbia.edu

Abstract: This study considers the employment of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) from a disability-rights perspective. This approach calls for a shift from a focus on one's (in)capacity towards one's capability, incorporating both factors of impairment and of appropriate accommodation and supports to create inclusion. To give a voice to persons with TBI, the discussion is based on interviews with Tracey (pseudonym), a woman who incurred the injury at a young age and carried its implications as she entered the workforce. It illustrates the discrimination and prejudice encountered by such individuals in procuring employment and gaining acceptance in workplaces and the accommodation-related challenges. The case study discusses the complexities involved as a way for developing a better understanding what must be considered, from a disability-rights perspective, regarding employment and workplace of persons with TBI. The 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) provides a legal reference for the discussion.

Keywords: Traumatic brain injury, prejudice and discrimination, accommodation, vocational rehabilitation, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-131792

Journal: Work, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 373-379, 2014