Introduction
Making a Job Accessible
Finding and keeping qualified workers in this economy is often the most challenging part of running a business. Yet, employers often overlook a large segment of our qualified workforce... people with disabilities. A Lou Harris 1 survey, found that:
Based on the 1998 First Report of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of People with Disabilities, seven out of ten unemployed people with disabilities would prefer to work. Illinois estimates that there are more than 342,000 unemployed working age citizens with disabilities want to work.
People with disabilities are as capable and dependable as those without them. Yet, they continue to be passed by. Why?
One main reason is the myth that hiring a person who has disabilities means costly accommodations.2 It's fundamentally untrue. Most accommodations are easy to implement and cost very little.
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The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) offers these steps to employers who make job accommodations. 3
| Step 1: | Define the problem. |
| Step 2: | Is it possible to modify the job? Yes? Revise the job description. |
| Step 3: | Is it possible to modify the existing facility? Yes? Modify the facility. |
| Step 4: | Does a product or service exist that would solve the problem? Yes? Purchase the product or service. |
| Step 5: | Can you use or combine available products in a way not usually used? Yes? Use and integrate the product. |
| Step 6: | Is it possible to modify a product? Yes? Modify the product. |
| Step 7: | Is it possible to design a new product? Yes? Design the new product. |
| Step 8: | Are there alternative placement possibilities? Yes? Reassign to available position. |
| Step 9: | Redefine the situation. |
| Step 10: | Maintain accommodations. |
The simple answer is, if it works. Suppose you hire an employee who uses a wheelchair. You know that your building is physically accessible with entrance doors, interior doors, bathrooms, parking lots and elevators meeting all the current codes. Everything seems to be right. However, on your new employee's first day, you learn she cannot get her wheelchair far enough under the desk to use it. There seem to be two obstructions:
The desk is too low.
The wheelchair's footrests bang on the privacy panel in the front of the desk that prevents her from getting as far under the desk as she needs to be.
There are several options available to you. You can:
Is one solution better than any of the others? That's a decision you and the employee must make.
You may also want to have someone come in and assess the work environment and make suggestions about how to make it work for your new employee.
When you are trying to solve this kind of technology problem, always consider the least intrusive, most cost-effective solution first. If that won't work, move up to something a little higher tech. As the steps above indicate, look for a no-tech type of solution first, before considering a device. No single solution works in all situations, even if the accommodation is for people with the same disability.
In our example, explore "A" first. If that doesn't work, then maybe "B" might. If that doesn't work, try "C" and so on. Ask your new employee to explore the strengths and weaknesses of each option. Together you can find the best option to use.
Don't get bogged down by a disability. Focus on what a person needs to do and then search for tools that will help her do it. For example, you might think that a person that cannot move her arms could not operate a computer.
In fact, there are many low tech ways that someone with that particular disability can operate a computer. Often, all the person needs is a head stick and key guard. But if that doesn't work, there are still low cost ways to make a computer accessible to someone with upper body disabilities.
Unfortunately, there's a long history of trying to "fix" the person rather than this newer way of looking at the environment and tasks. If you need help getting out of that old way of thinking, you may need an outside evaluator to help you.
The first person to ask about what might work best is the person with the disability. She has had to figure out, often cleverly, ways to live in a world that doesn't fit her. If the two of you cannot solve the puzzle, invite another person to help. Pick someone who is "good with her hands." Perhaps a carpenter, a farmer, or engineer. Pick someone that works in a completely different environment than you. They problem solve differently, and will add new insights.
Once you've exhausted your idea pool… you'll need to call in a professional in the technology field to help. Here is a list of People and Places that Conduct Assessments or Evaluations in Illinois who conduct assistive technology evaluations. TechConnect, a program of the Illinois Assistive Technology Project provides this information and keeps it updated.
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1 Hopkins. K.R. ( 1991). Willing to act. [Summary of Louis Harris and Associates survey findings on public attitudes toward people with disabilities]. Back to document.
2 In this document, accommodate means to provide parity, equality on the job. Employees with disabilities can do the same job as non-disabled colleagues, with the right tools. Those tools level the playing field and create a sameness of quantity or degree. Back to document.
3 From President's Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities pamphlet, Job Accommodations Come in Groups of One (http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/groupof1.htm). Back to document.
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