Accommodating Employees and Job Applicants with Psychiatric Disabilities In the Workplace

Journal of Rehabilitation, July-Sept, 2005 by Joe Weilacher

Accommodating Employees and Job Applicants with Psychiatric Disabilities In the Workplace

Produced by People With Disabilities Foundation (www.pwdf.org) 2004 (Revised Edition), VHS $129.95, DVD $144.95

Accommodating Employees and Job Applicants with Psychiatric Disabilities in the Workplace is a video that summarizes the effects of employment law on individuals with mental health disabilities. The video identifies key concepts of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and applies the concepts to six fictitious employment scenarios involving individuals with mental disabilities. The viewer gains a cursory understanding of the major mental illness categories, essential functions, reasonable accommodations, undue hardships, disclosure requirements, and employee harassment implications.

Each of the six scenarios follows a similar format. An employee or job applicant is identified as living with a particular mental health disability and is confronted with the need to request an accommodation in order to maintain/secure employment. For example, an office worker with mental illness needs to request an accommodation in her work schedule to permit her to attend regular psychiatric appointments. A clinical psychologist then provides a description of the characterizations of the identified mental illness per the DSM-IV and an attorney discusses the validity of the request for a reasonable accommodation. The video ends with a summary of the six scenarios including further discussion of undue hardships to employers and their requirements under law to prevent employee harassment.

The video would serve as an introduction to the application of the ADA as it relates to employment for rehabilitation counselors, employers, and students; however, its greatest value would be to employees/job seekers living with mental disabilities. The video suggests a number of accommodations that could be requested by individuals with mental health disabilities to enable employment. Accommodations include alterations to work schedules, environments, and duties. The video is 35 minutes in length and easily viewable in a sitting.

Joe Weilacher

Director, Community Services

Skills of Central Pennsylvania, Inc.