Determinants of legal disclosure intentions in academia

Although many countries have legislation to support the inclusion of workers with disability by offering reasonable accommodations, a considerable number of workers with health problems do not apply for official disability recognition. This legal disclosure constitutes a necessary step to access such reasonable accommodations. This study therefore aims to better understand the intentions of legal disclosure in the specific context of French academia. To this end, we focused on disability identification, social support, and perceived stigma, three concepts identified as key predictors of willingness to disclose a disability. Three hundred and forty-eight employees of French universities (administrative staff, teachers and researchers) with health condition(s) responded to a questionnaire measuring concepts of interest and intentions to disclose legally. The results confirm the importance of identification with disability, but question social support. More interestingly, in line with the rejection-identification model, perceived stigmatization has an indirect effect on intentions through increased identification.