Collaboration is Key to Making Successful Workplace Accommodations that Help People with Disabilities Continue to Work

Body

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to make reasonable workplace accommodations to hire people with disabilities and to retain employees who have acquired one through illness or accident. Workplace experts agree that in the 30 years since the federal law was passed, numerous positive changes have occurred. Many workplaces now have ramps and automatic doors to accommodate those in wheelchairs. Some companies have embraced flexible scheduling for those who can’t work a standard 9-to-5 schedule. Assistive technologies such as headsets, voice recognition software, and screen readers have become almost commonplace, helping those with physical disabilities, as well as, visual and auditory disabilities find and keep jobs.

But the process to gain accommodations isn’t always a smooth one. Some employers worry that accommodations will be expensive or create tension with other workers. Others decide what an employee needs without consultation. Sometimes an employee with a disability is under the impression that only one type of accommodation will do—whether it’s a specific software program or a brand of ergonomic chair. Besides anecdotal tales, there’s statistical evidence that much more collaboration is needed in the area of workplace accommodations. Complaints related to disabilities continue to be a top category at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. agency responsible for enforcing federal laws related to discrimination and harassment of employees and job applicants. In fact, the number of disability-related complaints rose 43% to 24,238 in 2019 from 17,007 two decades earlier.

“That’s an indicator there’s a breakdown someplace in the communication between the employee and the employer,” says Robin Jones, Director of the Great Lakes ADA Center in Chicago, which provides technical assistance to employers and employees on workplace accommodations. The ADA was never intended to be a one-way street where the employer gives and the employee receives, Jones points out. “The key to the process is it must be interactive between the employer and the employee. That’s the way it is written in the regulations. The employer can’t make a unilateral decision. The employee makes the request and the employer engages with them and they explore the options.”

Employees are critical to the accommodation process, vocational rehabilitation experts say, because they are the ones who start the request. Once that happens, it becomes a process of figuring out what the worker needs to help them do their job and what the company is willing to provide, says Robert Trierweiler, a vocational rehabilitation counselor at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab who has spent his career working with employers on accommodations. Many times, the employee and the company work out something on their own. Whether it’s something simple like a headset or something more complicated like building a wheelchair ramp. People who qualify for vocational rehabilitation have the added assistance of counselors like Trierweiler who can help the employer understand what the options are and help them find appropriate suppliers or other resources.

Body

In his long career, Trierweiler has many success stories under his belt. The teacher in a wheelchair who had her classroom moved to the first floor so she could avoid the stairs. A forklift operator at a catalog warehouse who had experienced a stroke and could no longer safely drive heavy equipment who was retrained as an order picker. A banker with multiple sclerosis who was allowed to work part-time as her disease progressed. And untold numbers of people who have had their workspace reconfigured to be wheelchair friendly or who have received new computer software or phone equipment to minimize a sensory impairment. “I approach it as a collaboration,” Trierweiler says. “I don’t call up an employer and say, ‘You must do this.’ I say, ‘This is the reason. Would you be able to do this?’ Most companies are very willing to make accommodations. Sometimes the employee isn’t aware of how willing.”

For most large corporations, the cost of making an accommodation is well worth it to retain an employee, and they already have people in-house with experience in the disability field. “If it’s a big company and they know the process, they don’t really need me,” Trierweiler says, "It’s not always the large companies with well-staffed human resources departments that are the easiest to work with," he explained. It’s rare, he adds, but some big companies view their employees with disabilities as expendable and would prefer to offer them severance packages so that they’ll move on.

Conversely, some small companies that might be expected to balk at the expense of an accommodation bend over backwards to make changes so that a valued employee can continue in their role at the company.  It’s true, however, that some small- to medium-sized firms worry about the financial impact of making physical accommodations like remodeling or buying new software. If an accommodation request is expensive, firms can seek an exemption because of “undue hardship.” The good news is that most accommodations cost $500 or less. “A lot of the accommodations I recommend are not costly. Even voice recognition software now costs about $150 and is available off the shelf,” Trierweiler says. “We always go from low tech to high.” In rare cases, where money is truly an issue, the Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services, or a similar agency in other states, may be able to help. “Sometimes, they can buy things that an employer couldn’t,” Trierweiler adds.

One area where more collaboration is needed is the mental health arena where disabilities include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. Some people with mental health disorders are reluctant to ask for help because of the stigma around mental illness, rehabilitation experts say. Even though a less stressful or quieter environment might allow people with mental illness to be more productive. On the employer side, there may be the feeling that mental illnesses are unmanageable. “These are harder, more difficult issues that have to do with behavior or modifying the way work is done,” says Jones. “When you’re questioning how someone does their job, it’s a bigger ask. The question may become ‘Are you qualified for this job?’ If so, can I accommodate you by creating a distraction-free workspace or a flexible schedule?” In the future, Jones expects to see even more conversation around mental health issues including how to best accommodate employees with autism spectrum disorders.  

In general, accommodation experts agree that asking for a piece of equipment or technology, or an adjustment to an office or washroom, is easier than asking for something that involves a change in corporate policy like the possibility of working part-time or from home. “We often hear that someone with a disability that involves fatigue or a lot of care in the morning is having trouble getting permission to work from home,” Jones says. “Employers that had policies in place that said ‘no work from home’ would shut down right away when that kind of request was made.” However, that may be changing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she adds. “Previously some companies said that certain jobs couldn’t be done remotely but when they were forced to, they made it work. Going forward, making that argument is going to be harder."