Towards A Model Of Disability Disclosure

Abstract

The model of relational development and decline in close relationships and selfdisclosure contains six agents: relational definition, time, attributional processes, liking, reciprocity, and goals. The purpose of the model is to describe the process of relationship development between peers. This phenomenology investigated disclosures between members of a minority group to a member of a majority group in the context of work. Each agent is discussed in terms of commonalities and differences between the agent and the experience of twelve participants with invisible disabilities interviewed.

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires adults to disclose information about the disability, provide requested documentation, and suggest accommodations (P.L. 101-336). The responsibility to disclose and seek accommodations rests solely on the disabled person. This type of disclosure is made for the purpose of accommodation and access to educational institutions, materials, or formal learning opportunities. Disclosure for accommodation most often occurs in formal learning situations such as training programs. Disabled people are expected by able-bodied co-workers to explain the nature and/or ramifications of their disability. Our workplaces become places of risk for disabled people when considering whether to disclose or not and how much information is appropriate (Dycke, 1999). Once disability status is disclosed, a person with invisible disabilities (could pass as an able-bodied person) becomes suspect and future interactions may be tainted (Rocco, 1997). While the disclosure experiences of people with visible disabilities are quite different (Rocco, 2001). Disclosure occurs in adult education and workplace settings by adults with and without disabilities for relationship development. Relationships between co-workers are important for informal learning to occur. Informal learning occurs in natural settings, which have the “potential for learning and in fact organize our learning” (Merriam & Caffarella, 1999, p. 396, italics in original). In contrast to self-directed learning projects initiated by the learner, informal learning at work can be initiated or facilitated by the co-worker with the knowledge or by the employee in need of the knowledge.

The way the disclosure is received, perceived, and acted on can make a difference in how the adult will approach a new learning situation at work, seek mentoring or other work relationships (Chelune, 1979). The question is how does disability disclosure between co-workers affect informal learning opportunities between coworkers that enable new employees or employees new to a department or position to learn their jobs in work groups, through mentoring, in informal non structured on the job training, or simply by interacting around a water cooler. Informal learning, non-structured on the job training, mentoring (whether formal or not), learning in organizations such as work groups, all of these forms of learning or structures to facilitate learning involve relationships between people. Relationships develop through personal disclosures, which can include information about one’s experience and knowledge gained through work or outside of work. Individuals from minority groups find themselves in the position of having to explain their experience or teach a person from a dominant cultural group.