Disability inclusion in work organizations: Differential accommodation regimes

Thesis Defense Disability inclusion in work organizations: Differential accomodation regimes, June 15th, 2026, Sciences Po School of Research, Sociology Program, CRIS and emlyon busines school. 

Thesis Supervisors: Anne Revillard (Full Professor, Sciences Po), Mar Perezts (Full Professor, emlyon business school, Lisa Buchter, Associate Professor, emlyon business school). Other committee members: Géraldine Galindo (Full Professor, Full Professor, ESCP Business School), Eline Jammaers (Assistant Professor, Hasselt University, Belgique), Aude Lejeune (Directrice de recherche CNRS, CERAPS), Jérôme Pélisse (Full Professor, Sciences Po).   

Many Western legal frameworks promoting non-discrimination, employment quotas, and accommodations aim to increase disabled workers’ participation in employment. Yet empirical research shows that disabled workers continue to face marginalization, barriers and uneven access to accommodations. I examine: how is disability (non-)inclusion practically produced within organizations? 
Focusing on France, I analyze how legal frameworks, institutional and organizational practices, and interpersonal dynamics interact to shape the (non-)inclusion of disabled workers, particularly those with invisible disabilities. Drawing on a qualitative fieldwork (2021-2023) combining 87 semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and textual analyses, my findings show that disability organizational (non-)inclusion is structured through interconnected mechanisms. 
First, disability must become visible and legible before it can be recognized and accommodated. Second, disability disclosure is not just an individual decision, but a collective process shaped by legal frameworks, managerial tools, and institutional and organizational incentives. Third, disability law is translated by state actors into organizational practices through managerial and accounting devices that prioritize compliance indicators over practical inclusion. Finally, inclusion operates through a two-track system in which formal accommodations coexist with widespread invisible self-accommodation by disabled workers. 
These dynamics produce differential accommodation regimes in which access to recognition and support varies by visibility, position, and manageability.