Table 1.

Characteristics of the included studies

Author Date Country	Title	Aim	Study designs	Population	Sample size	Settings	Disability type	Disclosure type	Disclosure experience	Key outcomes
Price et al. 2017 USA13	Disclosure of Mental Disability by College and University Faculty: The Negotiation of Accommodations, Supports, and Barriers	To address the lack of research and understanding of the experiences of faculty members with mental disabilities in higher education	Survey	College and university members across USA	267	College or University	Mental disabilities	Formal and informal	Reasons for disclosing: • To request accommodations • To seek support • To reduce stigma and build trust Reasons for not disclosing: • Fear of negative consequences • Stigma • Difficulty finding supportive colleagues or supervisors • Lack of awareness about mental health issues Various positive and negative experiences reported in the disclosing process.	Whilst most faculty with mental disabilities disclosed to colleagues, many lacked awareness of available accommodations and feared negative consequences. Disclosure experiences ranged from positive support to harmful bias, highlighting the need for better institutional support and inclusive workplaces.
Burns and Green 2019 USA23	Academic Librarians’ Experiences and Perceptions on Mental Illness Stigma and the Workplace	To understand the stigma and address a gap in the literature about how academic librarians, many of whom are faculty on a tenure track, may experience mental illness stigma in their professional environments.	Survey including free text questions	Academic librarians including 311 diagnosed with a mental illness	549	The survey was distributed amongst American Library Association Listservs.	Mental health problems	Informal	Stigma • expected to ‘work harder’. • seen as suspicious and ‘taking advantage of the system’. • Fear of isolation	Training and workshops can reduce stigma.
Pionke 2019 USA24	The Impact of Disbelief: On Being a Library Employee with a Disability	To explores the accommodation process, its impact on the employee and the politics and psychology of disbelief and suspicion surrounding disability accommodation.	Case study	A librarian	1	N/A	Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)	Formal	• Stigma • Long procedure for accommodation Ableism	Accommodation, from whichever angle you approach it, is not an easy thing. Done right, it leads to happier and more dedicated employees who work more efficiently. Done wrong, accommodations create resentment, a sense of betrayal and a devaluing of the self for the person who is asking for them. Whilst the law is clear that accommodations must be offered to people who ask for them, the law does not stipulate that employers have to understand, educate or embrace the person with a disability and that is the crux of the issue.
Cepeda M 2021 USA25	Thrice Unseen, Forever on Borrowed Time: Latina Feminist Reflections on Mental Disability and the Neoliberal Academy	To explore the experiences of multiply marginalized faculty members with mental disabilities in the neoliberal academy through a Latina feminist testimonial approach	Autoethnography	Professor	1	Williams College	Bipolar and PTSD	Formal	• Disclose for securing reasonable workplace accommodation and provide support for other colleagues with non-visible disabilities • Stigma • Fear of losing job • Pressure to prove herself and value at work.	The study advocates for a more inclusive and supportive environment for faculty with non-visible disabilities, emphasizing the need for collective recognition and systemic change within academia to accommodate the diverse experiences of academics with mental health conditions and challenges. She urges for a shift in the discourse surrounding disability in higher education and calls for a more holistic approach to support the needs of faculty members with non-visible disabilities.
Green et al. 2020 USA26	Teaching and Researching with a Mental Health Diagnosis: Practices and Perspectives on Academic Ableism	To examine the experiences of academics with mental health diagnoses in the teaching and research process	Interviews	Academics with mental health diagnoses	9	University settings	Mental health conditions	Formal and informal	Reasons for disclosing: • Creating open dialogue and reducing stigma • Obtaining accommodations • Building trust and empathy Reasons for not disclosing: • Fear of discrimination and stereotyping • Maintaining personal privacy • Varied positive and negative experiences, including challenges in navigating stigma, accessing accommodations and maintaining academic productivity. Positive experiences include support and understanding by colleagues and students, personal empowerment and raising awareness.	Emphasizes the need for a more inclusive and supportive environment for academics with mental health diagnoses in the academy.
England 2016 USA27	Being open in academia: A personal narrative of mental illness and disclosure	To present an autobiographical reflection on the decision to be open about the authors’ mental health status during all stages of her career, from diagnosis as a graduate student through the tenure process to her present state of working to attain full professor	Narrative autobiography	A professor in Geography	1	Department of Geography, Miami University.	Bipolar	Formal	Prefer to disclose because of: • A belief needing support from friends and colleagues (safety) • A belief mental illness should be destigmatised. (stigma)	Chronic mental illness is a challenge to disclose in academia. But, universities are becoming more aware of mental health issues and are providing counselling services and programmes to students and staff.
Clayton 2009 USA28	Teacher with a Learning Disability	To explore disability experiences of a teacher who discloses a learning disability to her Principal	Case study	A teacher	1	The Northern City Public School	Learning disability	Formal	• Fear of losing job • Low performance is not because of lack of preparation	It is important to disclose the disability. But there are many views on how disable teachers can continue the job.
Valle et al. 2010 USA29	The Disability Closet: Teachers with Learning Disabilities Evaluate the Risks and Benefits of ‘Coming Out’	To investigates the factors that influence whether teachers with learning disabilities (LD) choose to disclose their disability status within public school settings	Interview	K-12 special education teacher and student teacher	4	N/A	Learning disability	Informal	• Stigma • Fear of losing status as an authority • Some disclosed to only students and their families. (to help others gain a deeper, more positive understanding of LD)	The act of disclosing LD is a not an event, but a highly personal process, subject to a multitude of ongoing factors and always without finalization. The research reveals persistent misperceptions about LD amongst educators, leaving some teachers with LD to feel vulnerable and thus remain undisclosed.
Wood and Happe 2023 UK30	What are the views and experiences of autistic teachers? Findings from an online survey in the UK	To discover views and experiences of autistic people working in an education role in the school sector in the UK	Survey (analysis of free text questions)	School staff	149	UK	Autism	N/A	• Fear of losing job • Some lost their job • Ableism (prejudice) • Stigma • Positive and supportive experience	The present findings suggest that autistic staff working in an education role in schools in the UK experience several impediments to their effective and successful employment in the sector. Some participants have positive experiences after disclosing their autism diagnosis, becoming valued members of the school community.
Marshall et al. 2020 UK31	“What should I say to my employer… if anything?”- My disability disclosure dilemma	To explore the key issues surrounding teacher/staff disability disclosures in the UK’s further education (FE) sector	Semi-structured interviews	Staff	15	Further Education setting in the Southeast of England	Non-visible disabilities including mental conditions	N/A	• Disclosing is anxious, distressing. • Seen as incompetence. • Seen as deficit	Fear of stigma and negative consequences leads most FE teachers to not disclose disabilities. Teachers with disabilities fear discrimination, lack of promotion or job loss if they disclose.
Horton and Tucker 2014 UK32	Disabilities in academic workplaces: experiences of human and physical geographers	To explore how diverse disabilities intersect with academic careers, lifestyles and workplaces, focusing on some common disciplinary and institutional spaces of human and physical geography.	Survey with free text questions	Academic staff	75	Respondents from different countries	Mental health conditions	Informal	• Stigma • Competitive working environment • Having clout helps to disclose disabilities • Fear of job lost	There is a need to support those with mental health conditions in academic workplaces. They mostly encountered issues including isolation, lack of support, distress, pressure, low self-esteem, fear of appearing ‘weak’—overlapped with the often-undisclosed experiences of many ‘non-disabled’ colleagues.
Hiscock and Leigh 2020 UK33	Exploring perceptions of and supporting dyslexia in teachers in higher education in STEM	To explore the perceptions of dyslexia and the experiences of teachers with dyslexia in higher education in STEM	Mixed methods, online survey and interviews	Teachers in higher education	115	Higher education institutions	Dyslexia	Informal	Disclosing dyslexia to assess students and colleagues’ perceptions. Positives: • Student acceptance • More inclusive and supportive learning environment • Normalizing disability • Encouraging others Negatives: • Stigma • Fear of judgement or negative consequences	Teachers with dyslexia find acceptance from students and colleagues when being open about their diagnosis. Openness and inclusive practices foster trust and understanding, making higher education more equitable for academics with dyslexia.
Skogen 2012 Canada34	‘Coming into Presence’ as Mentally Ill in Academia: A New Logic of Emancipation	To discusses the impact of stigma on a professor’s decision to either disclose or conceal her illness.	Autoethnography	Professor	1	University of Alberta	Bipolar	Informal	• Sigma • Fear • Shame	Disclosing a severe mental health issue is a challenging process because of fear, stigma and shame.
Oud 2019 Canada35	Systemic Workplace Barriers for Academic Librarians with Disabilities	To explore the workplace experiences of librarians with disabilities working in university libraries in Canada	Interviews	Librarians	10	Canadian university libraries	Non-visible disabilities including mental conditions	Formal and informal	• Disclose as a coping strategy or increasing awareness of disability. • Not disclose because of stigma fear of job or promotion lost. • Mixed positive and negative experiences on legal work accommodations	The main barriers reported in the study were related to a lack of awareness or ill-informed view of disability, including an assumption that everyone in the workplace is nondisabled and negative stereotypes of people with disabilities as lazy and less productive at work.
Morrison 2019 Canada36	(Un)Reasonable, (Un)Necessary and (In)Appropriate: Biographic Mediation of Neurodivergence in Academic Accommodations	To critically examine the institutional demands for personal disclosure and the bureaucratic processes involved in securing workplace accommodations for disabled faculty members in higher education	Autoethnography	Associate Professor in English at the University of Waterloo	1	University	ADHD	Informal	• Disclosing to promote a positive shift in the disclosure of disabilities • The extensive and complex nature of the verification process • The fear of being split into an ‘otherwise qualified’	The study explores the challenges faced by disabled faculty in higher education, focusing on the difficulties of disclosure and accommodation. It emphasizes the dehumanizing verification process, bureaucratic emphasis on essential duties and conflicts between institutions and individuals in securing accommodations. The study advocates for a more holistic approach to rebuilding higher education to support access for disabled individuals.
Wright and Kaupins 2018 New Zealand37	‘What About Us?’ Exploring What It Means to Be a Management Educator With Asperger’s Syndrome	To explore Asperger’s Syndrome impact on teaching and learning from the instructor’s perspective	Case study - Interview	Professor	1	Boise State University	Asperger’s syndrome (AS)	Prefer not disclose	• No disclosure but fight with that	AS need not be seen as a disability or deficiency in the management classroom. Using cognitive and behavioural techniques, individuals with AS can effectively manage their symptoms, leading to enhanced teaching delivery and assessment methods.
Sanchez 2023 Germany38	Decisions, practices and experiences of disclosure by academics with invisible disabilities at German universities	To examine the decisions, practices and experiences of disclosure amongst academics with non-visible disabilities at German universities	Interviews	Academics with non-visible disabilities at German universities	16	University settings	Non- visible disabilities including mental conditions	N/A	Prefer not to disclose because of: • Fear of stigma and discrimination • Concerns about professional competence • Maintaining personal privacy and boundaries	Academics with non-visible disabilities often feel pressured to present themselves as academically capable and competent individuals, selectively sharing and controlling disability information as an anti-stigma strategy within the abled-normative academia. Emphasizes the need for a supportive and inclusive environment for academics with non-visible disabilities in German universities.