Tackling Algorithmic Disability Discrimination in the Hiring Process: An Ethical, Legal and Technical Analysis

Abstract: Tackling algorithmic discrimination against persons with disabilities (PWDs) demands a distinctive approach that is fundamentally different to that applied to other protected characteristics, due to particular ethical, legal, and technical challenges. We address these challenges specifically in the context of AI systems used in hiring processes (or automated hiring systems, AHSs), in which automated assessment procedures are subject to unique ethical and legal considerations and have an undeniable adverse impact on PWDs. In this paper, we discuss concerns and opportunities raised by AI-driven hiring in relation to disability discrimination. Ultimately, we aim to encourage further research into this topic. Hence, we establish some starting points and design a roadmap for ethicists, lawmakers, advocates as well as AI practitioners alike.