Teachers’ Disability Disclosure: Multiple Points of View

ABSTRACT

Disability disclosure is an issue that concerns people with invisible disabilities. To date, studies have not examined this issue among teachers with invisible physical disabilities, their colleagues, and school principals, simultaneously. The goal of the current study was to shed light on this phenomenon from various perspectives. The study was conducted in Israel and included 13 teachers with invisible physical disabilities, 10 school principals, and 10 professional colleagues of a teacher with an invisible disability. It was found that while principals and colleagues focused solely on how to avoid additional workload or any discomfort, the teachers with a disability aimed to leave a positive mark on their students. Notably, while the principals’ concerns regarding the teacher with disability focused on professional issues, the colleagues’ concerns focused on the personal interaction between them and the teacher. These findings revealed specific barriers that teachers with disabilities faced and allowed us to address how they could be removed in favor of the growing trends of inclusion of teachers with disabilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).