Motto Disability Self-Perception Tool™
A tool that can be used to kick-off a self-development journey for individuals with disabilities with the goal of optimising psychological well-being and functioning, to assist the loved ones of disabled individuals to better understand and support them, and/or to assist organisations in their diversity and inclusion efforts relating to disability.
The Motto Disability Perception Tool™ measures the self-perceptions of disabled individuals to identify areas where the individual may be experiencing difficulties related to the psychological, physical, or social aspects of their disability.
It can also be used to assist important people in the disabled individual’s life to come to a better understanding of how to offer appropriate support, and to assist organisations to address inclusivity-related concerns.
Some background to the tool
According to the World Health Organisation, roughly 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability. This makes people with disabilities the world’s largest minority group. Yet, despite the worldwide move towards the acknowledgement of diversity-related issues and inclusivity, people with disabilities are still experiencing exclusion in many spheres of life. This does not only include legislation and workplace policies, but also the ironic exclusion from conversations addressing diversity and inclusivity.
The Motto Disability Perception Tool™ was developed by Dr Mariheca Otto in collaboration with Disability and Employment expert and consultant Dr Madri Engelbrecht from Altitude Supported Employment, in an attempt to partially address the silence surrounding disability.
Whilst it is important to acknowledge that society needs to adapt so as to eradicate the exclusion of (and discrimination towards) people with disabilities, it is as important to acknowledge that disability can be a traumatic experience for some. People with acquired disabilities can be identified as a demographic for whom this could be particularly difficult. The loss of a limb, or any physical or mental function can lead to feelings of grief, disenfranchisement and/or shame, as well as often changing the entire course of a person’s life in terms of goals and purpose.
Even if the individual’s disability was not acquired later in life, societal factors such as exclusion, discrimination, or inaccessibility can have severely adverse effects on an individual’s well-being.
The Motto Disability Perception Tool™ consists of three surveys. The Motto Disability Self-Perception Survey measures the self-perceptions of individuals with disabilities to identify possible development areas and subsequent strategies to promote optimal psychological well-being and functioning.
The Motto Disability Support Perception Survey that forms part of the Tool is used to assess the perceptions of an important person/people in the disabled person’s life, such as spouses or partners, parents or other family members, or close friends. As opposed to measuring self-perceptions, this survey measures the perceptions that the person has in terms of their loved one on the same elements as measured by the Disability Self-Perception Survey. The results can be compared to the self-perceptions of the individual with a disability so as to identify gaps in perceptions and to assist the nondisabled individual to better understand and support their loved one.
When the Tool is being used in a workplace context, the Parallel Disability Colleague Perception Survey that forms part of the Tool can be used on an anonymous group level to assess the perceptions of disability amongst employees without disabilities in an organisation. These results can then be compared to the Self-Perceptions of disabled employees on a group level, which allows for gaps in perceptions to be identified that could be causing people with disabilities to feel excluded or undervalued in the workplace. This allows for subsequent processes to be implemented to close the gaps in perception and promote greater inclusivity.
Ideally, remeasurement should occur after an agreed upon period to track progress.