Disability Inclusion in the Workplace

Abstract

Purpose – The present study intends to identify the factors influencing inclusion of persons with disability. This study has been carried out in three parts; First, the study explores antecedent factors of disability inclusion through quantitative and qualitative review, further these factors have been tested for its relationship with disability inclusion in the workplace by conducting a survey in the four Nift fifty firms. The second study intends to identify the role of Teleworking as a technological intervention for inclusion of persons with disability during COVID 19 period. Third, is a case study conducted in an academy for children with speech and hearing impairment, to assess the role of education in creating employment opportunities for children with disability. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted to gain an understanding of the topic using visual representation of the body of knowledge. The factors affecting the workplace inclusion of people with disabilities (PWD) were identified through a literature review and further tested for the hypothesised relationships. A 41-item survey questionnaire was administered to 415 respondents, which includes disabled employees, coworkers, and their managers from four nifty fifty companies. The data was collected by employing a systematic random sampling method. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data using research models. The second study adopted Expert analysis method to conduct and find out the factors that affect teleworking for PWD and their cause-and-effect relationship. The third study adopted a case study method to find out how special schools are developing the skills and unique talents of differently abled students to make them employment-ready, resulting in pre-employment inclusion.