News release

The co-worker acceptance of disabled employees (CADE) scale : a study to gather evidence of content validity, by Breen, Jonathon Steven. University of British Columbia, 2018

The acceptance of disabled employees and job seekers within the workplace is a key determinant of their employment success. The principal purpose of this dissertation is the development of the Co-Worker Acceptance of Disabled Employees (CADE) Scale. It is intended as a measure of the degree to which co-workers accept these employees within the workplace.

The CADE Scale is supported by both theoretical and empirical evidence. The former, theoretical validity evidence, is considered within a newly developed model of disability, the Difference Model. That evidence, which is intended to mitigate a previously undescribed form of error associated with scale development, and which I refer to as ontological error, is applied to the development of the CADE Scale. The latter, empirical validity evidence, has been gathered from data generated through a content validity study. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014) indicates that evidence based on scale content is one of the five principal and, typically, one of the first sources of empirical validity evidence to be considered. To meet this requirement, these data were gathered within a judgmental study with input from 21 Subject Matter Experts from Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Australia. This group included individuals with and without disabilities. Each represented one or more of three skill sets – experience delivering disability-related training or workshops; experience as a person with a disability in a corporate environment; an understanding of workplace dynamics, either as a practitioner or an academic, as these dynamics relate to employees with disabilities.

This dissertation is presented within a framework of emancipatory disability research. As such, it is purposeful; that purpose, as articulated by many within the field of disability, is an attempt to improve life opportunities for individuals living with disabilities. In support of this purpose, I have included several “text box” summaries of my personal, professional, and academic relationships to this research. My intent is to provide an opportunity for ontological critique and, ultimately, to assist in meeting my principal purpose.