ABSTRACT
Keywords: Disclosure, interviewing, employment, uncertainty reduction, stigma
management
For many applicants with disabilities, successful job interviewing is an all-or-nothing
battle with prejudiced, nondisabled employers who often operate in bureaucratic support
systems and as a result, may have some acknowledged or hidden prejudices (Stone &
Sawatzki, 1980). The frustration of job applicants with disabilities has real significance,
especially considering the extraordinary unemployment rate of over 70% for the disabled
population (Rubin, 1997). Because persons with disabilities, especially those who have
the most visible disabilities such as paraplegia, Down syndrome, or closed head injury,
are considered less attractive and less employable, they are often left in a perpetual state
of social and economic dependency (Albrecht, 1992). This chapter argues that to break
from this state of dependency, the applicant with a disability would benefit from using
strategic communication during the employment interview to prove that she or he is
employable despite the stigma or stereotypes that his or her disability might evoke.