Workers with disabilities and the challenges of emotional labour

This paper explores the implications of emotional labour for workers with disabilities, drawing on qualitative data from interviews with 59 respondents who had disabilities and who worked in service sector occupations. The analysis illustrates that employer demands for emotional labour may prove difficult for workers with a range of disabilities, including psychiatric diagnoses, learning difficulties and physical impairments. Analysis also points to the ways in which the non-accommodating nature of many workplaces often forces workers with disabilities to engage in 'extra' emotion work in the interests of fitting in and concealing/ downplaying their impairments.