‘Sometimes it’s as if I don’t exist’: workplace inclusion of employees with disability in emerging destinations

Inclusion of employees with disability is crucial to maximising work productivity of all segments of employees. However, few studies have examined the inclusion experiences of employees with disability in tourism firms, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Using social justice theory, this study explores the inclusion experiences of employees with disability in the tourism sector in Ghana based on interviews with 17 employees with disability. The findings revealed that these employees experienced three main types of exclusion: rejection by non-disabled co-workers, assignment of inappropriate job roles and use of offensive and exclusive language in the workplace. Organisational-level and individual-level exclusionary factors underpin the exclusion experiences of the employees with disability. The implications of the findings in nurturing the inclusion of employees with disability and in the context of future conceptualisation of studies on inclusion are discussed.