Disability Studies Quarterly Summer 2008, Volume 28, No.3 <www.dsq-sds.org> Copyright 2008 by the Society for Disability Studies

Although I had heard a lot about the job market from my dissertation committee and friends while in graduate school, I encountered several surprises during my first year on the market. For instance, while I had set aside money for a new suit, plus airfare and lodging at the American Historical Association conference, I had not anticipated spending a grand total of $475.35 on postage! I had wondered how search committees would react to my work in disability history. I feared that they might be baffled, or worse, suspicious? During my interviews, however, I found that committee members were not only intrigued by the field but also grasped the benefits of incorporating disability into U.S. history. I also wasn't sure how to handle the fact that I have a disability, despite many discussions with my committee. While on a campus visit, I found the search committee to be extremely gracious in dealing with accommodations. At the same time, job candidates with impairments more severe or visible than mine (a moderate hearing loss but normal speech), would likely encounter many challenges—especially at the interview and campus visit stages.

The Job Application Process

Let me start by giving an overview of the academic hiring process. Beginning in late summer, search committees will start posting advertisements on H-Net, The Chronicle of Higher Education website, and in the databases of the professional societies (e.g., Modern Language Association, American Historical Association, American Academy of Religion). Even if you are not planning on going on the job market for a year or two, it's well worth your time to occasionally scan the ads. You will get a sense of what sorts of materials you will need to submit and how tightly (or broadly) search committees define subfields. This cycle, I saw only one history ad that mentioned disability as a category of interest. If you are actively on the market, you may find the Chronicle's custom search agent helpful. This feature will automatically search new job ads by keyword, location, discipline, and other characteristics and e-mail you a link to any relevant ads. (Using only "disability" produces many false hits; "disability studies" works better.) Generally, you will need to send at least your curriculum vitae, a cover letter, and a statement of teaching philosophy, but some committees also request writing samples, syllabi, teaching evaluations, and other materials.

Next, you wait. Unlike when sending in your tax return, silence is not a good sign. Sometimes committees send letters or e-mails confirming that they have received your application or asking for more materials. But often you won't hear anything. The members of search committees not only have to whittle down a hundred or more applications to 10-20 interviewees, but also carry full teaching, service, and research loads at the same time. If the deafening silence gets too overwhelming, however, you can turn to the Academic Job Search wiki.1 Rumors, high emotions, and mass deletions mingle with actual facts on the "wiki," so it's best to read with a skeptical eye.

If you are selected for a conference interview, you may hear just two or three days before the conference starts—which obviously poses challenges for both financially-strapped graduate students and candidates who need accessible hotel rooms. I'll talk more about being a job candidate with a disability below, but suffice it to say that the "wiki" can help you determine if the departments to which you applied have scheduled interviews yet. During phone and conference interviews, you should be prepared to talk about your teaching, future research interests, and dissertation (in 1-2 sentence, two minute, five minute, and ten minute variations). You should also be knowledgeable about the school and department, have ideas for how your background and research interests would strengthen their program, and have several questions for the committee. If you can, do a mock interview with faculty in your department—mine was tougher than any of my actual interviews, but really helpful.

After interviews comes the campus visit—a one-to-two day affair during which you will be under the microscope at all times. Generally, you'll need to teach a class, give a "job talk" about your research, and meet with faculty, students, and deans, all while remaining charming, professional, and calm. While the campus visit is partly aimed at giving the department a chance to see how you function intellectually and personally, it's also an opportunity for job candidates to see if they would be a good fit with the department. Once again, try to do a mock job talk for faculty and students in your department—as with a practice interview, it's especially helpful to solicit feedback from scholars outside your particular subfield.

On the Job Market with a Disability

The interview and campus visit stages present the most challenges to job candidates with disabilities. The two key questions are whether/how to "out" yourself and what accommodations you need. Legally, search committees cannot ask about disability—invisible or visible—or about race, age, national origin, personal lifestyle, marital status, and family, among other topics. That said, there is evidence that search committees are less likely to interview job candidates with disabilities and that departments avoid hiring disabled job candidates due to fears about accommodations and workload.2

I disclosed my hearing impairment once I reached the campus visit stage. This reflected a strategic choice on the part of myself and my advisor, and the fact that I was fortunate enough to have all of my conference interviews in hotel suites rather than in the "pit"—a cavernous, echoey ballroom with narrow aisles and thin partitions between interview cubicles.

While on the phone with the search chair, I mentioned that I had a moderate hearing loss and asked if meals and meetings could take place in quiet restaurants or rooms. I also requested a microphone for my teaching demonstration (since hearing aids make it hard to tell how loud one's voice is). Finally, I asked the chair if he had any questions, which he did not. As I mentioned above, the search committee—and especially its chair—were very thoughtful and considerate in how they handled my disability. The committee members selected quiet restaurants, made sure that I sat where I could hear best, had the music turned down, and so on. And before my teaching demonstration, I showed my FM microphone to several faculty members and explained how I handled having discussion in a large lecture hall (in the end, I didn't need to use the microphone).

Of course, I benefited from having a largely invisible disability that requires relatively simple accommodations. But even if you have a visible disability, you can control how you disclose your impairment. Doing so in a matter-of-fact way will hopefully allay any fears on the part of the search committee and provide a means for educating them about how to accommodate people with disabilities.

While many accommodations issues may arise at the interview stage, three stand out. First, the tight timeline of interview requests presents particular challenges to candidates who need accessible hotel rooms. National associations encourage search committees to contact interviewees well in advance of conferences. Doing so, however, is difficult for conferences that happen during the fall, given the academic calendar. Most conference hotels will let you cancel a room at the last minute, so if you think you have a shot at getting an interview, book a room well in advance.

Second, because national conferences are so large, the meetings rarely fit in just one hotel. This means that unless all of one's interviews are in the pit, candidates may have to travel between hotels a mile or more apart. Associations generally run shuttle buses between the hotels, but, at least in my experience, not all of the buses are accessible, nor do all interviews happen at the official conference hotels. For people with mobility impairments or chronic illnesses, just getting to interviews can be tiring.

Third, the pit. The interview pit (or ballroom) poses challenges to candidates with many different kinds of disabilities. The narrow aisles and small cubicles raise navigational barriers to people who use wheelchairs or rely on service dogs. The "constant muttering" on all sides—to quote a friend (and veteran of many job searches)—can cause difficulties for candidates with hearing and cognitive impairments. And for people with respiratory impairments, perfumes and other scents could be problematic.

One potential solution comes to mind: professional associations could reserve several accessible hotel suites for interviews with disabled job candidates (or search committee members) who need accommodations. Such a system would help address the needs of people with many different kinds of impairments and encourage search committees to consider the issues of disability and accommodations.

All in all, my experience on the job market as a disability studies scholar with a disability went more smoothly than I had anticipated. Search committees were genuinely interested in my work in disability history. Intriguingly, however, I was only asked about disability studies per se during a mock interview in my home department. And in my (admittedly limited) experience, having a disability was not a strike against me.

Sarah F. Rose recently received her Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her dissertation, entitled "No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1850-1930," traces how disability emerged as a key policy problem, synonymous with public dependency, and how disabled people became defined as unproductive citizens.