Disability and the professional accountant: insights from oral histories

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the intersection of disability and accounting employment.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses oral history accounts of 12 disabled accountants. The authors investigate narrators' experiences of being disabled people and professional accountants, identify the barriers they encounter in professional employment, and how they (re)negotiate professional work.

Findings

The narrators' accounts are complex and diverse. The narratives record a discourse of success, offset by the consistent identification of social and environmental barriers relating to limited opportunities, resources, and support.

Originality/value

The paper develops the limited research on the relationship between disability and the accounting profession, expands the limited literature on disabled professionals' experience of work, provides voice for disabled accountants, adds to the limited oral histories available within accounting, and augments the accumulated literature considering the accounting profession and minorities.

Citation

Duff, A. and Ferguson, J. (2012), "Disability and the professional accountant: insights from oral histories", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 71-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513571211191752