The impact of cultural and religious codes on the inclusive employment process of intellectually disabled adults in Türkiye

This study examines how cultural and religious codes shape the way support and administrative staff talk about an intellectually disabled colleague at a Turkish university in a region where local culture and Islamic values are intertwined. Nine staff members participated in semi-structured interviews. Consistent with the social model, the object of analysis is the disabling environment, not the employee. Lacking professional experience, staff compensated with religious references such as ‘God’s trust’ and ‘our test’, rendering the disabled employee an object ‘in need of help’. This pity discourse treats a colleague as an object of care rather than an equal, legitimises compassionate yet exclusionary attitudes, and undermines his institutional belonging. His own comment on the findings was a request for a say in decisions about his work, which no colleague had raised. The article sets out concrete steps through which disabled employees can hold institutions to equality-based structural and discursive change.