Doctoral Dissertation Research: Disability Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

这个博士论文项目将分析大型雇主在工作场所促进残疾人多样性和包容性（“D&amp；I”）的努力的起源和影响，以及这些努力如何改变工作场所。自1990年《美国残疾人法案》（ADA）通过以来，在公共和私营部门，残疾人权利倡议都有所增长，自2008年《美国残疾人法案修正案》（ADAAA）以来，这一势头更为强劲。拥有约220万雇员的联邦政府设定的目标是残疾人占其劳动力的12%。政府还为联邦承包商设定了7%的目标，该部门包括国防、安全、金融和会计、信息技术和咨询等领域的大型雇主。本研究将探讨公共和私营雇主为什么以及如何寻求雇用更多的残疾员工，以及残疾人的增加如何以及以何种方式改变工作场所文化。加强对工作中的残疾包容的理解将为雇主和决策者提供具体和可操作的信息。这将促进国家繁荣和福利，因为残疾人就业差距代表着未开发人才的财富损失。研究人员将为政策制定者和组织领导人提供他们可以应用的具体实践。残疾趋势为研究包容和排斥过程如何塑造场所，尤其是工作场所提供了一个机会。通过访谈、工作见习观察和文献研究收集的数据将解决三个问题：(1)残疾包容如何改变日常社会空间关系，无论是提前还是由于D&amp；I倡议？(2)关于残疾的知识如何塑造包容性实践？(3)残障叙事如何重新配置残障“价值”观念？数据收集将集中在华盛顿特区，这是残疾人就业和平等就业政策的生产和分配的重要中心，也是美国联邦政府文职雇员和联邦承包商的中心，他们在主流工作场所领导残疾人发展和就业工作。这些分析和发现将推动人文地理学、相关学科和扩大参与科学的研究，这些研究涉及就业隔离、价值观念之间的关系，以及排斥和包容过程如何塑造工作场所的特征和使用。

This doctoral dissertation project will analyze the origins and impacts of large employers' efforts to promote disability diversity and inclusion ("D&I") in the workplace, and how such efforts transform the workplace as a place. Disability D&I initiatives have grown in both the public and private sectors since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 and even more so since the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) in 2008. The federal government, which employs about 2.2 million people, has set the goal of having 12% of its workforce be people with disabilities. The government has also set a 7% goal for federal contractors, a sector that includes large employers in areas such as defense, security, finance and accounting, information technology, and consulting. This study will examine why and how public and private employers have sought to hire more employees with disabilities and how and in what ways the greater presence of people with disabilities transforms workplace culture. Enhanced understanding of disability inclusion at work will provide specific and actionable information for employers and policy-makers. It will forward both national prosperity and welfare because the disability employment gap represents a loss of wealth in terms of untapped talent. The researchers will provide policy-makers and organizational leaders with specific practices they can apply.The trends in disability D&I offer an opportunity for investigating how processes of inclusion and exclusion shape places, especially workplaces. Data gathered through interviews, observation in the form of job shadowing, and document research, will address three questions: (1) How does disability inclusion transform everyday socio-spatial relations, both in advance and because of D&I initiatives? (2) How does knowledge about disability D&I shape inclusion practices? (3) How do disability D&I narratives reconfigure ideas about disability "value?" Data collection will be focused in Washington, D.C., a significant center for the production and distribution of disability employment and equal employment policy and the hub for civilian employees of the US federal government and federal contractors, who are leading disability D&I efforts in mainstream workplaces. The analysis and findings will advance research in human geography, related disciplines, and the science of broadening participation, about the relationship between employment segregation, ideas about value, and how processes of exclusion and inclusion shape workplace character and use.