Disability management experts and the impact of jurisdiction on practice: an Ontario example

• Introduction The role, tasks and competencies of disability management professionals (DMPs) have increasingly become a focus of research in the last decade. However, the legal context in which DMPs work, how this affects their daily practice, and how this impacts their training curricula, has been neglected. This omission is problematic given that international training programs of disability management (DM) operate across different jurisdictions. Our study describes DMPs' practice in Ontario, Canada and considers jurisdiction-specific elements of disability management practice. Methods The study is based on seven interviews and a focus group with five participants, who are either certified disability management professionals or who are involved with DMPs' training, as well as documentary analysis of the legal context of these professionals' practice. Results The study shows how DMPs' practice is affected by the local legal context. The jurisdiction's socio-political framework requires DMPs to distinguish between occupational and non-occupational cases, a distinction which affects their practice and their recommendations to employers. This is in contrast to DM training which emphasises equal treatment of all people with disabilities. Conclusions The research suggests that disability management practices may differ from one jurisdiction to the next and therefore emphasises the need to consider socio-political aspects in DMPs' practice as well as in the development of training programmes and cross-jurisdictional research.

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return-to-work practices

compensation + benefits

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