Disability, sameness, and equality: able-bodied managers and employees discussing diversity in a Scandinavian context

• Main Author: Nanna Mik-Meyer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholm University Press 2016-08-01
• Series: Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research
• Subjects: Cerebral palsy; co-workers; disability; equality; sameness
• Online Access: https://www.sjdr.se/articles/227

This article contributes to research examining the work situations of employees with disabilities. This is performed by demonstrating how able-bodied norms affect the work lives of employees with cerebral palsy in Danish work organizations. Thus, this article investigates how able-bodied managers and employees talk about their co-workers with cerebral palsy and examines the narratives of diversity among able-bodied managers and employees when they discuss the work situation of their colleagues with cerebral palsy. The empirical point of departure is 6 weeks of participant observations in 2 work organizations along with interviews conducted in 13 work organizations with 19 managers and 43 colleagues who work with an employee with cerebral palsy on a daily basis. The article finds two dominating narratives regarding diversity that have to do with being either ‘different but the same’ or ‘just different’. These two narratives relate to the highly praised value of equality in Scandinavia.