Study goals
This research aims to analyze the perceptions of public servants with invisible disabilities regarding their conditions and how these perceptions influence the construction and management of their work identities.
Relevance / originality
The study is original in highlighting tensions between disclosure and concealment, masking, emotional overload, and insufficient institutional support affecting public servants with invisible disabilities. Late diagnoses enhance self-understanding but do not ensure recognition, revealing the impact of meritocratic and ableist norms.
Methodology / approach
The study adopts a qualitative, interpretivist, and phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of 22 public university staff with invisible disabilities. Data, collected through semi-structured interviews, were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis supported by MAXQDA software.
Main results
The findings show tensions between disclosure and concealment, masking strategies, emotional overload, and lack of institutional support. Late diagnoses improved self-understanding but not organizational recognition. Professional identity is shaped by meritocratic, ableist norms that reinforce symbolic barriers and heighten access fatigue.
Theoretical / methodological contributions
The study deepens the understanding of professional identity among public university staff with invisible disabilities, integrating disability and identity studies. It employs reflexive thematic analysis within a phenomenological approach, offering methodological depth and highlighting ableism as a structural factor shaping organizational experiences.
Social / management contributions
Findings inform inclusive management by revealing barriers faced by staff with invisible disabilities, emphasizing institutional responsibility for accessibility and recognition. They support policies that challenge meritocratic and ableist norms, fostering equity, reducing access fatigue, and improving well-being in higher education workplaces.