Reasonable accommodations at a reasonable cost - assistive devices for disabled employees - includes related article on sources of information about assistive technology and devices

HR Magazine, Sept, 1997 by Carolyn Hirschman

Assistive devices for employees with disabilities may not be as expensive as you think.

The scene this summer morning seems ordinary, but is quite remarkable. Edward Wright types quietly at a corner workstation, entering memos and mailing lists into his computer and occasionally answering the telephone. This internship as a clerk is Wright's first job since 1994, when a robber's gunshots left him paralyzed from the chest down.

After three years of rehabilitation at various hospitals and training centers, the former custodian and cab driver is back at work, thanks to a Goodwill Industries computer-training program in Washington, D.C. "I love it. It's exciting. I've always worked my whole life. Staying home wasn't too pleasant for me," says Wright, who uses a wheelchair.

It didn't take much to get the 46-year-old Wright started on his new job. His employer, the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, Va., gave him a headset so he wouldn't have to answer calls with his hands, which have limited mobility. He brought his own typing sticks, simple devices of rubber and metal that slip onto each hand and act as forefinger extenders.

The NSF, a federal agency that funds science research and education projects, also installed automatic doors for the bathrooms on Wright's floor. Co-workers have propped open office doors to allow easy wheelchair access.

Six floors above, Lawrence A. Scadden, Ph.D., senior director of NSF's program for people with disabilities, sits surrounded by his "toys," as he calls them. Scadden eagerly shows off the devices one by one - from a simple braille typewriter to a complex speech synthesis system that allows his computer to "talk." Blinded in a home accident at age 5, Scadden, now 58, uses the devices every day as director of a program that funds math and science education projects for students with disabilities.

Wright's typing sticks cost about $20; Scadden's speech synthesizer, about $1,600.

Low tech and high tech, they share a common purpose as assistive devices that allow employees with disabilities to do their jobs. Tens of thousands of such products are on the market today. Some of them, such as the phone-based telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), have been around for years. Others are on the cutting edge of computer technology.

Assistive devices took on new importance with the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the 1990 federal law that bans discrimination against people with disabilities in employment and public accommodations. Title I, the section that pertains to employment, requires employers of 15 or more to make "reasonable accommodations" to allow workers with disabilities to perform the "essential functions" of a job. Employees with disabilities are defined as having a physical or mental impairment that "substantially limits one or more major life activities." The accommodations must impose no "undue hardship," such as financial difficulty, on the employer.

A "reasonable" accommodation may be as simple as modifying work schedules or eliminating certain job functions. Often, however, the change is physical, requiring the purchase of special tools or equipment. In such cases, the first step is to figure out what type of assistive device is needed.

FIRST, ASSESS NEEDS

Don't rush out to buy, experts advise. Do your homework first by assessing workers' needs. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recommends an "informal, interactive process" between employer and employee.

"First of all, relax," advises Lynn Halverson, technology director of Macro International Inc., a Calverton, Md., firm that runs ABLEDATA, an electronic database on assistive devices. "If you're not used to dealing with someone with a disability, you might get upset or uncomfortable. But remember, this condition is nothing new to the person. You have the expert right there in front of you. If the person has the skills to do the job, you ask how you can make it happen. They usually know what they need."

Scadden agrees, saying there's much that a person with a disability would know, possibly more than the employer.

In Wright's case, he and his supervisor, Mary Lou Higgs, consulted by phone after he was hired. She got a phone headset through NSF's Office of Equal Opportunity. "It's been very easy," says Higgs, who oversees NSF's publishing activities. "So far, we haven't found anything that can't be done."

Higgs also had the Office of Equal Opportunity conduct diversity training for her 13 employees before Wright started work. The course covered myths versus facts about disabilities as well as language and appropriate etiquette-for example, how to converse with a person in a wheelchair.

COST NEED NOT IMPEDE ACCOMMODATION

Once you've decided on a device, you're ready to shop, but you don't have to spend a lot. Most employers spend $500 or less, according to the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a consulting service in Morgantown, W.Va. Although customized devices [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] abound, you may do just as well with something "off the shelf," says Bill Wilkoff, a Washington, D.C., interior designer who specializes in ADA compliance.