This study assessed potential barriers of the employment of individuals with disabilities. Participants reviewed the interview notes and résumé of a simulated applicant with a disability, along with the job description for a simulated position. Hiring ratings were assigned, followed by a series of measures assessing personality and attitudes toward people with disabilities. Results indicate that variance in both hiring ratings and attitudes differed as a function of individual differences in raters, suggesting that individual differences not only affect attitudes toward individuals with disabilities, but also impact subsequent hiring recommendations. Findings can be used by human resource professionals to eliminate attitudinal barriers in employment of applicants with disabilities, as well as stress the diversification of selection committees.
Although advocating for more supportive policies to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT) employees is indeed a worthwhile goal, King and Cortina (2010) did not emphasize the potential effects of policy changes on nonstigmatized employees. Beyond impacting the work experiences of LGBT employees, it is reasonable to assume that a change in policy will also affect the emotional well-being and behaviors of nonstigmatized employees. Although overlooked by King and Cortina, the well-being of nonstigmatized employees should not be dismissed by organizations and industrial-organizational (I-O) psychologists. Instead, efforts should be undertaken to consider the reactions of nonstigmatized employees to such a policy change and incorporate those insights, along with those designed to protect LGBT workers, into a more strategic and hopefully effective policy. In order to properly administer an effective policy change, organizations will need to consider the effects on nonstigmatized employees if changes in stereotypes and prejudice are ever to be realized.
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