Speech impairment and workplace discrimination: The national EEOC ADA research project

Abstract

There is a substantial lack of knowledge regarding the extent to which employment discrimination may be perceived or experienced by individuals with speech impairments. This investigation examined 1,637 such allegations of employment discrimination extracted as part of the National EEOC Americans with Disabilities Act research project. Allegations by individuals with speech impairments were compared to a group of individuals with orthopedic and visual impairments. The group with speech impairments consisted of a higher proportion of males and younger individuals than the comparison group. There also were differences in the alleged discrimination issues for the two groups, most notably a higher proportion of allegations of harassment and a lower proportion of allegations related to reasonable accommodation in the group with speech-impairment. In addition, the proportion of allegations between the two groups differed with respect to industry type, employer region and employer size.

The proportion of cases judged to have merit was similar across the two groups, but there were within group differences in the pattern of merit resolutions.