Future research considerations of this concern include the conditions surrounding employees’ disclosure of disability information, specifically with whom the disclosure occurs, the use of discourse strategies, and the disclosure of disability as a type of identity.

University of Notre Dame

Employers report rarely seeing disabled workers in their applicant pools, though they may be underestimating this number given the prevalence of people with disabilities. This can be due to several reasons, including: 
- Disabilities are difficult to discern and not often known except to those affected, with “invisible” disabilities, including mental illnesses, arthritis, diabetes, episodic disabilities, etc.
- Disclosure issue, purposeful withholding of information by prospective employees due to a concern of occupational repercussions even at the risk of no accommodations
- Recruitment process deters people with disabilities from applying in the first place

Recruitment Concern #1: The Number of Qualified People with Disabilities

Bonaccio, S., Connelly, C. E., Gellatly, I. R., Jetha, A., &amp; Martin Ginis, K. A. (2019). The participation of people with disabilities in the workplace across the employment cycle: Employer concerns and research evidence. Journal of Business and Psychology, 35(2), 135–158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9602-5 

The Participation of People with Disabilities in the Workplace Across the Employment Cycle: Employer Concerns and Research Evidence

Research Directions of Recruitment Concern #1

Government organizations have the resources to correct this lack of awareness of employers and managers, which is necessary given a consistently reported lack of disability-related knowledge across workplaces. Services such as the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) and the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) help employers become more knowledgeable about disabilities and improve employer-employee interactions. Important parts of awareness building were identified as the considerations of the variable nature of disabilities, age - in terms of the likelihood of developing disabilities, and the existence of episodic disabilities.

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