Decisions, practices, and experiences of disclosure by academics with invisible disabilities at German universities

Abstract

Disclosing an invisible disability such as mental illness or rheumatic disease can be a significant challenge for disabled people, personally and professionally. Whereas some individuals choose to be more or less open about their disabilities with friends and colleagues, others decide to keep their conditions to themselves due to their fear of stigma and exclusion. In recent years, disability disclosure at universities has received more attention in higher education research and disability studies. Whereas current research focuses on students with invisible disabilities, the disclosure experiences of disabled academics have hardly been explored. Therefore, this study offers problem-centred interviews with academics with invisible disabilities at German universities. The study results provide insight into how these scholars decide whether and when to disclose their disabilities and how these processes have affected their academic careers.

Points of interest

• Higher education research and disability studies pay little attention to disability disclosure in academia. Therefore, this study provides interviews with academics with invisible disabilities at German universities.

• The research reported here shows that many disabled academics avoid disclosing the fluctuating nature of their conditions because they do not want to appear weak or limited in performance.

• In addition, scholars with mental illness are afraid to talk openly about their disabilities as they fear being seen as dangerous or crazy.

• Some academics in this study are forced by their supervisors to disclose their disabilities. The research also found situations where superiors and colleagues share disability information without the individual’s consent.

Keywords:

• Disability
• invisible disabilities
• academics
• disclosure
• inclusion

Disclosure statement

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