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Ryan H. Nelson & Michael Ashley Stein, Erasing Workers’ Identities: Comment on Blanck, Hyseni, and Altunkol Wise’s National Study of the Legal Profession, 47 Am. J. L. & Med. 71 (2021).


Abstract: "Bring your whole self to work" remains a common mantra of supporters of workplace diversity, equality, and inclusion ("DEI"). For example, disability rights advocates have long contended that hiding or downplaying one's disability from one's colleagues at work "create[s] an invisible layer of additional work for the individual" in being accepted at the job and negatively affects productivity. LGBTQ+ rights advocates have raised similar points, noting that hiding or downplaying one's sexual orientation or gender identity from one's colleagues hinders internal advancement of LGBTQ+ workers. As recently as 2019, however, a Deloitte study found that sixty-one percent of workers hid or downplayed one or more of their identities from their colleagues at work.