Disabling organizational spaces: Exploring the role of material organizational environments in disadvantaging employees with disabilities

Abstract

According to the social model of disability, the material environment can play an important role in disabling and disadvantaging individuals with impairments. As the organizational literature on disability has failed to offer an in-depth analysis of the disabling effects of organizational spaces, and the organizational literature on space has largely ignored the issue of disability, this article aims to answer the following question: how can organizational spaces contribute to disadvantaging employees with disabilities? Drawing on interviews with 66 employees with an impairment, this article makes three contributions to the organizational literature. First, it shows how spaces can contribute to disadvantaging individuals with disabilities through three disabling processes – disabling productivity, social integration and well-being – which work on two different levels: an individual level and a broader discursive level. Second, by showing how these processes can overlap but still operate independently, this article highlights that reasonable accommodations might not be sufficient to fundamentally challenge ableism and address the disadvantage of individuals with disabilities. Third, we broaden debates on organizational efforts to address the disadvantaged position of individuals with disabilities by proposing alternative interventions aimed at challenging ableist norms.