Disclosure of Mental Disability by College and University Faculty: The Negotiation of Accommodations, Supports, and Barriers

Autor: Margaret Price, Mark S. Salzer, Amber O'Shea, Stephanie L. Kerschbaum
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol 37, Iss 2 (2017)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1041-5718
2159-8371
DOI: 10.18061/dsq.v37i2.5487
Popis: High-profile shootings and student suicides have made mental health issues on college campuses a major national issue. College students are usually the focus of this conversation, while little attention beyond anecdotal accounts has been paid to faculty with mental health issues. In response to this lack of broad-scale research, a first-of-its-kind cross-institutional survey of faculty with mental disabilities was conducted. Respondents self-identified as faculty with mental disabilities, mental illness or mental-health histories. Results from 267 respondents indicated that nearly 70% had no or limited familiarity with accommodations, and even fewer used them (87%). A majority of respondents (62%) disclosed to at least one person on campus, primarily colleagues (50%) and department chairs (21%). Respondents felt most supported by spouses/significant others (75% very or extremely supported) and friends (51%) rather than colleagues (29%) and supervisors (25%). In our discussion of these findings, we offer suggestions for practice that will improve environments, rather than focusing on case-by-case "fixes" for those who disclose. We also suggest directions for further research into this topic, which is frequently mentioned (in both scholarly and popular publications) but rarely investigated systematically or on a wide scale.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals