Disability, Pity, and the Workplace

The purpose is to examine perceptions of pity directed toward people with disabilities to gain a deeper understanding of the effect of these perceptions on the employment success of people with disabilities and to provide direction to disability-related training and strategic planning in the workplace.

Two studies were developed to explore these relationships. The first measured the characteristics most frequently associated with people with disabilities in the workplace. Survey respondents rated the degree to which they believed the average person would assign these several characteristics to people with disabilities. The second measured the degree to which perceptions of pity, as directed toward people with disabilities, were correlated with the apparent complexity of those disabilities. Respondents determined the relative amount of money that passers-by would likely donate to panhandlers who used various mobility equipment (i.e., wheelchair, walker, cane).

Results from these studies indicated that people with disabilities were more likely to be assigned a preponderance of negative characteristics, including those described as unfortunate, limited, and tragic. In addition, people with disabilities whose disabilities were perceived as more complex were seen as being more in need of financial assistance.

By providing an empirically driven starting point for organizational planners, including human resource professionals, managers, and recruiters, these two studies provide a basis upon which to develop strategies that account for these affect-based responses to disability.