Integrating Persons with Disabilities into the Work Force

Despite increased innovations in rehabilitation and laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities has consistently hovered in the 60%-70% area for decades. Extensive literature reviews indicated that one of the biggest barriers to employment opportunities for people with disabilities is employers' negative attitude. The purpose of the study is to measure the attitudes of foodservice employers toward hiring persons with disabilities and to assess the effects of these attitudes on employers' hiring practices. The survey population was foodservice employers who are members of Oklahoma Restaurant Association (ORA), and a simple random sampling approach was used to survey 500 ORA members. Factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, and one-way ANOVA were employed for data analysis. The study revealed a somewhat favorable attitude towards workers with disabilities among Oklahoma foodservice employers. The results also showed that prior positive working experience with persons with disabilities people contributed to favorable employer attitude. It was concluded that the more positive employers' attitude towards persons with disabilities employees, the more likely they are going to hire or continue to hire persons with disability.