Research on validism in the workplace

What is validism?

Validism is the collective term for discrimination, marginalization and stigmatization of people with disabilities based on physical, mental and/or psychological condition. Although the term validism was first used in the Netherlands in 1988, chances are you have never heard of it before. Partly because of this, this discrimination often takes place (unintentionally).

Think for example of steps or high thresholds in buildings; for people in wheelchairs this is logically very inconvenient but nobody seems to think about this when designing buildings. Just count for yourself how many of those thresholds and steps you encounter in a day.

In another example, even our beloved drive-thru fast food is validist. For me, someone who stutters, it's difficult to place my order through a pole because I don't have direct eye contact with the person on the other side and so they don't know as well what's happening when I get stuck in my words. Some employees then become impatient and even ask me to ''act normal''. Unfortunately peanut butter, for me this is just the ''normal'' me.

Now these are examples of visible (or audible) disabilities but with invisible disabilities, such as a personality disorder for example, it is more common for others not to take the disability seriously, underestimate it or even deny it because it is not as visible as physical disabilities.

Research at Driessen Groep

In my qualitative research, I conducted interviews with both employees with disabilities and executives within Driessen Groep. This way I hear the story from both sides.

Often-heard preconceptions such as that employing people with disabilities takes more time and energy were confirmed but at the same time immediately debunked. One of the most striking (read: most beautiful) results that came out of this is that the executives who have a person with a disability on their team speak of a very positive impact. They indicate that having someone with a disability on their team has caused the atmosphere within their team to become a bit more human; colleagues are willing to do more for each other and realize that not everything can be taken for granted by everyone. So in addition to increasing diversity, hiring people with disabilities also has a positive impact on the overall work atmosphere.

General recommendations:

• Have the conversation
  The research has shown that the negative prejudices surrounding the hiring of persons with disabilities are mostly caused by a lack of awareness and knowledge about validism and a lack of social perspective. For companies that find inclusion and diversity important, I would like to suggest to look into the topic of validation and, above all, to see the person separately from the disability. You can do this by doing something as simple as talking to your employees and asking for their input in this area. After all, they themselves are the experiencers.
• Implement small changes
  It has also been shown that making small adjustments for employees with disabilities can make an incredibly big difference. For example, go with highly visible colors or large pictograms and lettering so that even people who are visually impaired can see, read and understand everything.
• Choose the right words
  Also, take a critical look at your current policies, such as those related to language. Do you unconsciously often talk about the disabled, autistic or disabled? Then try adjusting your language and instead talk about people with disabilities, a man with autism or a woman in a wheelchair. This shows that you see the disability as separate from the person and acknowledges that everyone has their own personality.

Further information

Naturally, validism and all that comes with it is much bigger than what is described above. Are you now curious about the full study including the resulting results and recommendations? Or do you have other questions? Then contact Joey Santegoeds.