A Codeveloped Web-Based Disability Disclosure Toolkit for Youth With Disabilities: Mixed Methods Pilot Evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Vocational Rehabilitation
• Disability Studies
• Employment Law and Policy

Background:

• Youth and young adults with disabilities face significant employment barriers, including discrimination and lack of support.
• Effective disclosure of disability and need for accommodations is crucial for workplace success but lacks evidence-based resources for youth.
• Developing self-advocacy skills is vital for this marginalized group in the labor market.

Purpose of the Study:

• To pilot-evaluate a web-based toolkit designed to improve disability disclosure for youth and young adults.
• To assess the toolkit's ability to enhance self-advocacy and the request for workplace accommodations.

Main Methods:

• Co-development of a web-based toolkit through two in-person focus groups with youth with disabilities.
• Pilot evaluation using a pre-post survey design.
• Primary outcomes included toolkit relevance, perceived impact on knowledge and confidence, and feedback on usefulness; secondary outcomes measured self-determination.

Main Results:

• Focus groups identified key themes: disability disclosure experiences, accommodation needs, and toolkit usefulness.
• Survey results indicated the toolkit significantly increased participants' knowledge (91%) and confidence (73%) regarding disability disclosure.
• Participants found the toolkit easy to understand and comprehensive, but no significant improvements in self-determination were observed.

Conclusions:

• Co-developing the toolkit with youth ensured its relevance and highlighted its potential as an educational resource.
• The toolkit shows preliminary promise for assisting youth with disabilities in employment.
• Further research with larger samples is necessary to confirm the impact of workplace disability disclosure decisions.