Having a recruitment strategy that promotes diverse hiring is not only good for society, but a strong business case can be made for ensuring your teams are inclusive. As you look to grow your teams and recruit new talent, it’s important that you use every resource available, and reach out to every individual or group, including those with visible or invisible disabilities. You’re not only legally mandated to make sure your hiring practices are ADA compliant, but if your website, interview practices, and office itself aren’t accessible and friendly to disabled applicants, you’re doing your company a disservice by essentially eliminating an entire pool of potentially immensely talented candidates – just like that.
Significance of Our Research
Our research in the WTS demonstrated that best practices for access and accommodations during the hiring process are not consistently implemented. About one-third of WTS participants reported difficulties accessing job applications and screening assessments. Our research also sheds light on the complexities of disclosing disability in the workplace; WTS participants disclosed at differing points during the hiring process, while some participants did not disclose their disability at all. These findings support the need to respect candidates’ choices regarding disability disclosure.
Actions You Can Take
Web content accessibility guidelines can help you determine what needs to be done, however top recommendations include:
- Ensure that all job application forms and required assessments are fully accessible to people using assistive technology. Candidates who are blind or have low vision must be able to access both your job postings on your website, and any job boards you’re posting on – and be able to fill out the application itself.
- Ensure that AI tools used in applicant screening do not systematically exclude applicants with disabilities.
- State a commitment to providing reasonable accommodations to promote an inclusive culture where candidates feel safe requesting accommodations.
- Refrain from asking about a candidate’s disability or accommodation needs until they are offered a position.
- Presume competence, assuming job candidates who are otherwise qualified can perform job tasks with or without reasonable accommodations.
Application and Interviewing Promising Practices
Rights and Responsibilities: Accomodations: Employers are generally obligated to provide effective reasonable accommodations if they are requested by the applicant. [3, 5, 8] Furthermore, Employers are not allowed to ask questions about a disability or accommodation prior to making an offer of employment. Until a job offer has been extended, the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 do not allow employers to ask an applicant about the nature or condition of their disability. Employers may invite applicants to self-disclose disability status for affirmative action purposes that aid the applicant. That information about disability must be kept separate from other application information and may only be used to benefit the applicant. Employers may ask whether the individual will require an accommodation and what type if they voluntarily disclose. After the job offer has been made, the employer may ask additional questions of future employees with disabilities for the purpose of providing accommodations and determining whether the disability poses a direct threat to health or safety. In general, employers may not discriminate if the employee can safely perform essential job tasks with or without a reasonable accommodation. For more information on employers’ responsibilities, see “Blindness and Vision Impairments in the Workplace and the ADA” published by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Rights and Responsibilities: Screening Out: The ADA notes that “screening out” a person with a disability (losing the job opportunity as a result of a lowered performance on certain selection criteria) is unlawful if it screens out an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without accommodations. Because AI can screen out applicants with disabilities, the EEOC recommends that employers test screening tools and question developers to find out if disability was considered in the making of the tool. Employers can also offer a variety of accessible formats to collect information about candidates. In addition, employers should be transparent about what traits the tool is measuring and how, so that employees can request reasonable accommodations if they feel it is necessary for them [6].
Example: A prospective employee who is blind is required to perform a gamified test that uses video and pictures to assess traits such as problem-solving and speed of response. No audio description is provided for the visual depictions, therefore causing the applicant to miss out on crucial information. The potential employee is “screened out” by the software. The applicant is qualified for the essential job duties. This is unlawful according to the ADA as reasonable accommodations were not provided that could have allowed the applicant to be considered for a job opportunity they were qualified for.
- Artificial Intelligence Considerations: Recruitment and hiring processes should be accessible and equitable. Artificial Intelligence (AI) may act to reduce the opportunities for people with disabilities to be equitably considered for jobs they are qualified for. AI algorithms can reflect bias against people with disabilities and against the purposes of diversity in general, especially when the data on which they are trained is biased or unvalidated for diversity [9]. Using data like “personality traits,” “cultural fit,” “outcome data,” and “aptitude tests” can be misleading and automatically cut out a number of candidates who are qualified and represent diverse populations. Even algorithms that consider certain educational measures and devalue candidates with employment gaps can discriminate against people with disabilities; for example, people with newly acquired disabilities may leave the workforce temporarily to learn adaptive skills and master assistive technology. Such individuals may return to the workforce prepared for employment but could be unwittingly excluded by AI algorithms due to the gap in their resume. Employers should be aware that AI takes shortcuts whenever possible, seeking easy correlations among data; therefore, AI can become more biased in its analysis. Since most AI processes are kept as proprietary trade secrets, knowing their biases can be impossible.
Workplace Technology Study Research Call Outs
- One-third of the participants who had to take an automated screening during the application process reported that the test was not fully accessible.
- Regarding disability disclosure, one participant wrote: “It’s uncomfortable [to ask for accommodations] because I don't think they're knowledgeable about the needs of blind and visually impaired people.” Hispanic/Latinx female in her 50s who became visually impaired in childhood
- Not all people disclose their blindness or low vision when seeking employment. In the WTS, 81% of the participants disclosed their disability to their current or most recent employer, most commonly during the interview or in their resume or cover letter.
- Individuals may delay disclosure, or may not disclose at all, if they are worried about negative reactions such as invasive questions or discrimination.
- Having intersecting identities may affect a person’s decision whether or not to disclose. In WTS, while 85% of the White participants disclosed their disability to their employer, only 75% of the non-White participants did. These findings show there is still work to be done in ensuring people who are blind or have low vision, from minority backgrounds, know that their disability status will not affect employment opportunities. Participants who had become blind or lost vision more recently were also less likely to disclose their disability than the participants who had been blind or had low vision from a young age.
- Some WTS participants who worked remotely or who were self-employed took creative steps to avoid disclosing their blindness or low vision to their employer or clients. While such actions may have helped prevent discrimination, they also prevented the participants from receiving accommodations that could have benefited them on the job. Applicants have the right to choose if, when, and to whom they disclose their disability. Creating an inclusive culture will encourage applicants to request the accommodations they need without fear of negative consequences.
Downloadable Chapter: OverviewApplication, Assessment, and Interviewing
