What do we know about school psychologists with disabilities and their workplace experiences? Not nearly enough

Despite efforts to diversify the field of school psychology, little attention has been given to school psychologists with disabilities. This gap in the literature is significant as these professionals provide support to students with disabilities. This study aimed to address this oversight by gathering essential demographic data on school psychologists with disabilities and examining the systemic and personal barriers they experience in the workplace. A total of 255 school psychologists with disabilities, inclusive of those with mental health conditions and chronic illness, shared their perceptions of the systemic and personal barriers they encounter in the workplace. Over half (58.3%) of respondents reported facing at least one systemic challenge in their careers, with the most common obstacles including being perceived as a problem employee and being stereotyped by supervisors. Personal challenges were most frequently related to difficulty sitting or standing for extended periods. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to determine whether there were significant differences between the systemic and personal challenges encountered by school psychologists based on the visibility of their disability. Compared to school psychologists with invisible/not readily apparent disabilities, those with visible/sometimes visible disabilities were 2.9 times more likely to report that they have not experienced systemic challenges in the workplace, such as being stereotyped or being perceived as a problem employee. Additionally, school psychologists with visible/sometimes visible disabilities were 13.1 times more likely to indicate that they had more difficulty in accessing or navigating their work environment compared to their peers with invisible disabilities/not readily apparent disabilities.