1 - (SYM 53) Disability Among Applied Psychology Faculty and Trainees: Correlates and Related Outcomes

Relative to population estimates, disabled people are under-represented among university faculty (Brown & Leigh, 2018), practicing psychologists (American Psychological Association, 2022), and trainees in clinical, counseling, and school psychology (Lund, 2021). Yet, disability is often overlooked in discussions regarding diversity and inclusive practices within psychological science. Further, recent work indicates that a majority of applied psychology faculty and graduate trainees report lived experience of psychopathology (Victor et al., 2022); however, it is unclear how often these individuals identify as disabled, even when reporting that these experiences have caused problems in professional domains. To expand this important domain of research, we examined self-reported disability from a large, representative dataset of faculty and graduate trainees in accredited American and Canadian clinical, counseling, and school psychology doctoral programs (N = 1958). In total, approximately 20% of the sample reported a past or current disability. Disabled respondents were, on average, younger than non-disabled respondents (Cohen’s d = .33, p < .001); they were more likely to be transgender or non-binary (64% disabled) than cisgender women (21% disabled) or cisgender men (17% disabled; p < .001) and were more likely to be graduate students (25% disabled) than faculty (12% disabled; p < .001). Similar rates of disability identification were observed across racial and ethnic groups (p = .75). 

Disabled respondents were significantly more likely to report lifetime mental health difficulties and lifetime diagnosed psychopathology (ps < .001). However, among those reporting at least some professional problems due to mental health difficulties (N = 713), only 32% reported having a disability, suggesting that most respondents with psychopathology did not identify as disabled. This may be due to internalized stigma, confusion about the definition of disability, or other factors, which will be discussed during the presentation. Further, descriptive data on the nature of reported disabilities will be presented and examined to determine whether the characteristics and correlates of disability differ for individuals with visible versus invisible disabilities. Finally, this presentation will discuss our study’s implications for providing appropriate accommodations and/or other types of supports to disabled faculty and trainees with and without psychopathology.