Disability Self-Identification

If most faculty and staff members self-identify their disability status, we can be confident that we have an accurate understanding of where we’re having the most and least success in recruiting, promoting, and retaining individuals with disabilities. Only if people self-identify can we effectively learn from departments that are doing well and target efforts to improve in departments – or in job categories – where we are doing poorly.

The federal government makes MIT’s eligibility for federal contracts dependent on our taking action wherever we find that individuals with disabilities are under-represented in our workforce. The regulations require that the Institute invite people to self-identify their disability status when they apply for a job, when they are hired, and at least every five years thereafter. The last invitation to all faculty and staff occurred in 2015. The regulations also specify that it is optional for you to self-identify. Still, those actions we take are less effective if we lack self-identification data.

See the federal government’s video (with and without captions) on the importance of self identification.

Along with other personal information such as gender, race, ethnicity, and veteran status, individuals’ self-identified disability status is kept confidential as required by federal law. Only Human Resources professionals at MIT have access to this information, which they may use only for compliance with government regulations and MIT’s diversity efforts. The information may also be released to the federal government during a compliance audit, or in response to certain legal processes.

Managers do not have access to self-identification information, and when HR staff use this information, they use it only in aggregate rather than to look at individuals’ self-identifications.

For example, HR staff calculate the percentage of employees in different types of jobs or in different work units who self-identify as having a disability; these calculations show where individuals with disabilities may be under-represented in MIT’s workforce. Then, MIT can take actions like targeted recruiting and measures to ensure fair treatment, as required by the government and in concert with MIT’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

It is important to reiterate that MIT does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities; on the contrary, it is MIT’s policy to provide reasonable accommodation to employees in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you believe that you need an accommodation to perform the duties of your job, you will find more information about the process here.

If we have no disability self-identification data from a large fraction of our workforce, we don’t know whether it’s because people are unaware of the opportunity to self-identify, or because they’re choosing not to self-identify. So, we may invest effort into further communications when that effort could have been more productively invested in better recruiting or supporting individuals with disabilities.

The definition is broader than many people think. For these purposes, the federal government considers an individual with a disability to be someone who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more "major life activities," (2) has a record of such an impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment. Examples of conditions that may count are listed on the form in Atlas.

The form only asks that you check one of the three boxes -- have a disability (or previously had one); do not have a disability; or do not wish to answer.

Yes, self-identifying your disability status is truly optional, and you will not be penalized in any way. We appreciate your going into Atlas and indicating your choice not to self identify, so we’ll know that you saw the invitation, and you won’t receive repeated invitations.

You can change your disability status at any time.