Attitudinal Research. What attitudes do organizations and fellow workers hold concerning the employment of the disabled? Wann and Wolfenbarger (1994) conducted a mail survey of 210 members of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), all from the Southwest, in preparation for a District 5 workplace diversity seminar. It is important to realize that the people surveyed were those whose job tasks included developing diversity communications programs for their employers and their clients. According to the authors:
The Southwestern US is a particularly good place to gather opinions on diversity. It is one of the fastest-growing regions of the nation and rapidly becoming more ethnically and racially diverse. (p. 14).
Diversity concerns were said to include the hiring of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people.
Survey results showed support among IABC members for aggressive efforts to expand employee diversity. On the other hand, many members stated that despite their commission to develop diversity programs they felt personally unprepared to include a wider range of non-traditional co-workers.
More than half of that sample stated that their employers already have active diversity efforts, but most said they felt cynical about diversity programs they have witnessed. The cynicism stemmed, in large part, from suspected discrimination and prejudice toward themselves by diversity employees.
More than 40 percent of IABC respondents stated that their own careers have been adversely affected by the employment of diversity workers. Further, almost 1/3 said that they had seen prejudice against others firsthand.
One problem, however, with Wann and Wolfenbarger's (1994) study is that they did not separate out diversity groups. In other words, minorities, females, and disabled were all lumped together. Therefore, there is no way to know precisely how much of the attitudes displayed toward d...