The American With Disabilities Act (ADA) & Reasonable Accomodations

JAN - the Job Accommodation Network is, without"qualified individual with disabilities":"A qualified individual
doubt, the absolute best resource and link for anyonewith a disability is a person who meets legitimate skill,
who is disabled, who is facing becoming disabled, andexperience, education, or other requirements of an
who is still working! The purposes of this article are:toemployment position that s/he holds or seeks, and
describe what this Resource is;to give you an examplewho can perform the "essential functions" of the
of what types of information it can provide for you;toposition with or without reasonable accommodation.
give you an example (from my own experience) ofRequiring the ability to perform "essential" functions
how you can trigger the ADA (Americans withassures that an individual with a disability will not be
Disability Act) to continue working as your companyconsidered unqualified simply because of inability to
provides you with "reasonable accommodations";and,perform marginal or incidental job functions. If the
to give you a link to this very valuable website.OK,individual is qualified to perform essential job functions
let's say that you have just been told by yourexcept for limitations caused by a disability, the
Neurologist that the series of conditions that haveemployer must consider whether the individual could
been making you miserable for over the past 35 yearsperform these functions with a reasonable
really are the result of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). My firstaccommodation. If a written job description has been
reaction was, OH DARN!!!At this point in time, I wasprepared in advance of advertising or interviewing
struggling to keep 2 kids in college, and was working inapplicants for a job, this will be considered as evidence,
the best job that I had ever had! I was the Vicealthough not conclusive evidence, of the essential
President of Human Resources for a Ship Repairfunctions of the job."Next step, get a copy of the Job
Yard. My staff and I provided Human ResorcesDescription for your job. The job description should
services to over 2,500 employees in 11 crafts (Unions)detail what is called "the Essential Duties (or Functions)
running a 24 (hour)/7 (days) week operations. (Note:of the Job". (Note: a copy of a Job Description that
you can see more about me by going to the "Abouthas such essential duties described, and the process
Us" section of the website.)My next reaction, since Iof how to get one from your company's Human
am an ingrained "control freak", I decided to becomeResource department can be found at the website in
an Expert Patient, even though I would not discoverthe Disabilitykey Workbook. This Workbook is an
that phrase until over a decade later. If I was to"e-book" of over 100 pages with How-To's and lots of
become a Chronic Disease Self-Manager (again, Iforms and examples. It can be purchased for a
would not discover that phrase until over a dacademinimum cost.)OK, you know your symptoms and their
later) I needed to know all about Multiple Sclerosis, itsimpacts upon you, and you have detailed them (once
symptoms, and, for whatever symptoms I had, theiragain, how to do this is covered in the Disabilitykey
explicit impact on me. For, you see, my wonderfulWorkbook). Now you have to look at the Job
Doctor and I had been practicing Patient-centeredDescription for your own Job, and decide what you
health care (another yet-to-be-discovered concept) forcan and can't do.OK, this is really hard stuff to do.
years up to that point.AND, since I still had bills to pay,That's where the JAN comes in that is so helpful! It has
two kids to keep in college (and those of you whoa link on the left hand column called "Accommodation
have experienced this, you KNOW how expensiveToolbox". If you click on this box, it will take you to a
college is these days) I needed to keep working. But,page with a wealth of information. Scroll down about
my job skills were becoming increasingly morean 15% of the page and you will find a section entitled
impacted by my MS symptoms. I knew that I must"Accommodation Ideas". When you click on this
research, in addition to the disease, the concept ofsection, you will find an index of illnesses/conditions,
working while disabled.Here, in a nutshell, is what Iwith some great information for you. You will need to
discovered. (By the way - I very much wish that thereunderstand accommodation ideas toHere's what the
had been information like this for me to access when IJAN has to say about "Reasonable Accommodations",
needed it; that's one of the reasons that I am soand about some accommodations applicants and
passionate about providing the information to y'all, soemployees may/can need."Q. What is "reasonable
that you can use it in your own unique situations.)Iaccommodation"?A. Reasonable accommodation is
learned that there was a federal law called "ADA".any modification or adjustment to a job or the work
(OK, truth time; I already knew about this law as aenvironment that will enable a qualified applicant or
Human Resources professional; what I mean to say, isemployee with a disability to participate in the
that now I knew about the law as a DISABLEDapplication process or to perform essential job
PERSON. Believe you me, the two "knowings" are asfunctions. Reasonable accommodation also includes
different as are night from day! One is academic, theadjustments to assure that a qualified individual with a
other is experiential. It is the very nature of mydisability has rights and privileges in employment equal
experiential knowledge about disability and other "stuff"to those of employees without disabilities.Q. What are
that fires me up to share the information with you sosome of the accommodations applicants and
you don't have to recreate the wheel.)employees may need?A. Examples of reasonable
Here is how the JAN describes WHAT the patternsaccommodation include making existing facilities used
and pracatices of a Company's employmentby employees readily accessible to and usable by an
nondiscrimination policies are under the ADA:individual with a disability; restructuring a job; modifying
" The ADA prohibits discrimination in all employmentwork schedules; acquiring or modifying equipment;
practices, including job application procedures, hiring,providing qualified readers or interpreters; or
firing, advancement, compensation, training, and otherappropriately modifying examinations, training, or other
terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Itprograms.Reasonable accommodation also may
applies to recruitment, advertising, tenure, layoff, leave,include reassigning a current employee to a vacant
fringe benefits, and all other employment-relatedposition for which the individual is qualified, if the person
activities."This is how the JAN describes WHO isis unable to do the original job because of a disability
covered by the ADA:even with an accommodation. However, there is no
"Employment discrimination is prohibited againstobligation to find a position for an applicant who is not
"qualified individuals with disabilities." This includesqualified for the position sought. Employers are not
applicants for employment and employees. Anrequired to lower quality or quantity standards as an
individual is considered to have a "disability" if s/he hasaccommodation; nor are they obligated to provide
a physical or mental impairment that substantially limitspersonal use items such as glasses or hearing
one or more major life activities, has a record of suchaids.The decision as to the appropriate
an impairment, or is regarded as having such anaccommodation must be based on the particular facts
impairment. Persons discriminated against becauseof each case. In selecting the particular type of
they have a known association or relationship with anreasonable accommodation to provide, the principal
individual with a disability also are protected."Pleasetest is that of effectiveness, i.e., whether the
note the sentence in red ink, and praticularly the wordsaccommodation will provide an opportunity for a
in bold that are larger. It is very important that youperson with a disability to achieve the same level of
understand that you need not just "have" a physical orperformance and to enjoy benefits equal to those of
mental impairment, that/those impairment(s) mustan average, similarly situated person without a disability.
substantially limit one or more major of life's activities,However, the accommodation does not have to
and, furthermore, you must have documentation ofensure equal results or provide exactly the same
that impairment ( and/or "be regarded as having suchbenefits."So, I now know my symptoms and their
an impairment", which basically means that theimpacts; I know about the ADA, and about something
impairment and it's limitations must be documented).It iscalled "reasonable accommocations". I have a copy of
this information in red ink that made me realize themy Job Description, and am now trying to compare
great truth about working and disability: I had to do the"ME" to the job's Essential Duties.About & Carolyn is a
work myself to determine what my impairementswebsite designed to assist each person in his/her own
were, and what activities they impacted; I had tounique quest to navigate through the difficult and often
become that Expert Patient who was also an Expertconflicting and misleading information about coping with
Disabled Worker! Here's how the JAN describes adisabilities.