Drawing on 36 semi-structured in-depth interviews with individuals with a variety of disabilities who are active in the labor force, we examine how such individuals construct positive work-related identities at work. The findings show how disabled workers use downward social comparison as a stigma identity management strategy, to compare themselves with individuals with disabilities that they perceive to be more stigmatizing, and how this affects their ability to construct a positive work-related identity. This perception of stigma is influenced by four disability characteristics: its visibility, severity, controllability and whether the disability needs workplace adaptations. Moreover, a range of contextual factors were identified to impact their capacity to construct a positive work-related identity. The disabled workers in this study tend to compare themselves with other disabled workers with disabilities that are more severe, more visible, less controllable and present more constraints for employers. Interestingly, they use the characteristics of one's disability as resources to construct a positive work-related identity, while those characteristics simultaneously stigmatize them as a social group. However, disabled individuals who cannot engage in downward social comparison are put in a marginalized position and struggle to construct positive social identities.

通过对参加劳动大军的各种残疾人的36次半结构化深度访谈，我们研究了这些人如何在工作中建立与工作相关的积极身份。研究结果表明，残障工人如何使用向下的社会比较作为一种污名化的身份管理策略，与自己认为受到更多污名化的残障人士进行比较，以及这如何影响他们建立与工作相关的积极身份的能力。这种对耻辱感的感知受到四个残疾特征的影响：其可见性，严重性，可控制性以及残疾是否需要适应工作场所。此外，确定了一系列背景因素，以影响其建立积极的工作相关身份的能力。在这项研究中，残疾工人倾向于将自己与其他残障工人进行比较，这些残障工人更严重，更明显，更难控制并且对雇主构成更多限制。有趣的是，他们利用残疾人的特征作为资源来建立与工作相关的积极身份，而这些特征同时将他们作为社会群体污名化。但是，无法进行社会比较的残疾人被置于边缘地位，并努力建立积极的社会认同感。残疾作为建立积极的与工作相关的身份的资源，而这些特征同时使他们成为社会群体的污名。但是，无法进行社会比较的残疾人被置于边缘地位，并努力建立积极的社会认同感。残疾作为建立积极的与工作相关的身份的资源，而这些特征同时使他们成为社会群体的污名。但是，无法进行社会比较的残疾人被置于边缘地位，并努力建立积极的社会认同感。