Help Wanted 2005

Introduction 4

Communicating With and About People with
Disabilities 11

Checklist for Hiring People with Disabilities 17

Recruiting, Interviewing, and Hiring Individuals
with Disabilities 23

Job Descriptions and the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) 33

Reasonable Accommodations 43

Disability Related Tax Incentive for Businesses 57

Health Insurance and Employees with
Disabilities 69

Employing People with Learning Disabilities 77

Resources for Information on the ADA and
Accommodations 83

This document is also available in alternative formats upon request. For more information, please contact kwoods@ku.edu
Some of the information contained in this manual was prepared by th e President’ Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities (now the Office of Disability Employment Policy) or the Job Accommodation Network. For more information about these organizations, please see the Resources section.

As an employer, you may be wondering, “What are the advantages to my company in hiring a person with a disability?” Recent surveys conducted by DuPont Corporation and other companies show that employees with disabilities have lower turnover rates, absenteeism, and high productivity. The following excerpt is from a report DuPont executives published on their experiences with employees with disabilities:

“DuPont hires people with disabilities because it’s fair and the right thing to do. But it’s also good for business. As a group, employees with disabilities have achieved impressive performance levels in our company—and we have studies spanning more than 30 years to prove it. What’s more, these people bring to their jobs an outlook and perspective that we think enhance the workplace where diversity is now the norm.”

The CEO Council Program of the National Organization on Disability lists many reasons for employing people with disabilities.* These include:

1. The labor shortage is forcing employers to go to extreme measures to recruit from non-traditional groups. They are spending extra time, energy, and resources in programs such as going to elementary schools to entice the mothers of these children back into the workforce. Another example highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal article is of employers who are taking high school students out of the classroom for 30+ hours per week. Employers are overlooking the pool of people with disabilities who are ready, willing and able to work with a minimum accommodation.

2. Hire people with disabilities to represent your customers with disabilities. One out of five Americans, and therefore, one out of five of your customers, has a disability. Including people with disabilities in marketing strategy, new product development, and universal design will ensure that your products are demanded by the nation’s largest minority market, commanding $180 billion annually in discretionary income.

3. Diverse work groups develop better solutions to business challenges. Including a variety of perspectives in decision-making insures that the same old techniques are abandoned for new and fresh ideas. People with disabilities contribute by bringing a different perspective to the table.

4. People with disabilities are experts in creative problem solving. When you are forced to learn new ways to do things that people without disabilities take for granted, you practice, hone and perfect “out-of-the-box” thinking which translates directly to better, more creative problem solving in the business environment.

Companies of all sizes are recognizing the value of employees with disabilities. The following employers received 1994 Employer of the Year awards from the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. They are representative of many in the United States who believe that the smart money is on businesses that recognize and hire qualified Americans with disabilities. All have agreed to assist other similar businesses that seek guidance or advice on hiring people with disabilities. Contact names and phone numbers are listed in each profile. Profiles are based on information provided by the employer.

Employer: Milwaukee County, Milwaukee, WI

Type of Business: County government

Total Employees: 8,319 (full-time), 561 (part-time)

Self-Identified Employees with Disabilities: 13% (full time), 13% (part-time)

Self-Identified Disabilities: Mental retardation, epilepsy, psychiatric disabilities, blind, deaf, amputation, carpal tunnel, arthritis, back impairments, brain trauma, cancer impairments, lupus, spinal cord injury, alcoholism, cerebral palsy, diabetes, heart disease, learning disability, stroke, visual impairment.

Positions Held By Employees with Disabilities: Individuals with disabilities hold or have held positions in 91 different classified job titles. These include everything from Account Clerk I to Zoo Worker III. Positions are held in all seven county job classifications. Individuals with disabilities are also employed in elected and appointed positions.

Accommodations Provided: Raised desk for employee who uses a wheelchair, amplified phone headset for employee who is hard of hearing, modified work schedules, enlarged computer screen for employee who has a visual impairment, increased desk lighting, air purifier for employee with respiratory disability, reserved parking, power operated doors, voice synthesizer computer for employee who is blind.

Year First Employed People with Disabilities: Aggressively 1985

Impact of Hiring People with Disabilities: Employees with disabilities have proven to be valuable employees. Often when employees with disabilities are hired, they leave the benefit rolls (SSI, SSDI, AFDC) and enter the role of taxpayer. When the benefit roll savings are added to the increased tax paid by these employees, Milwaukee County, the state of Wisconsin, and taxpayers in general are saving over $5.16 million annually.

Employer: Kreonite, a division of Dunning Photo Equipment, Inc., Bixby, OK
Type of Business: Designer and manufacturer of photo/graphic processing systems

Total Employees: 240

Self-identified Employees with Disabilities: 15% (approximate)

Self-identified Disabilities: Psychiatric disability, mental retardation, deafness, deafness/blindness, vision impairment

Positions Held by Employees with Disabilities: Small parts assembly, electrical assembly, electrical mechanical assembly, supervisory, drafting, clerical, machine operation, maintenance

Accommodations Provided: Sign language classes for hearing employees, jigs and fixtures as requested, shift changes, cordless screwdrivers

Year First Employed People with Disabilities: 1974

Impact of Hiring People with Disabilities: Improved attendance, less turnover which means less training cost and unemployment cost, productivity, job responsibility and work ethics.

Integrating people with disabilities into your work environment need not be difficult, but careful planning can help to prevent problems. Plan ahead. Include disability awareness in any diversity training for your staff or human resources personnel. When writing job descriptions, consider which duties and tasks are essential to the job and which ones are more marginal. Invite people with disabilities to tour your facilities to see if they are physically accessible. Most importantly, think ability not disability. Keep in mind that people with disabilities are often an untapped labor pool; for them, finding a job is frequently more difficult than for non-disabled folks. Thus, once they have a job, they take their commitment to that job very seriously.
Perhaps you are open to hiring people with disabilities, but don’t know how to proceed. You may also be uncertain of how to provide accommodations, or concerned about the costs involved. The materials in this booklet are provided to help employers recruit, hire, retain and accommodate employees with disabilities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), other legislation, and the efforts of many disability organizations have begun to improve accessibility in buildings, increase access to education, open employment opportunities, and develop realistic portrayals of persons with disabilities in television programming and motion pictures. However, more progress needs to be made. Many people still view persons with disabilities as individuals to be pitied, taken care of, feared, or ignored. These attitudes may arise from discomfort with individuals who are perceived to be different or simply from a lack of information. Listed on the following pages are some suggestions on how to relate and communicate with and about people with disabilities. We must look beyond the disability and look at the individual’s ability and capability—the things that make each of us unique and worthwhile.

Words

Language can have a powerful impact. For this reason, the use of accurate language when talking to or about people with disabilities is critical. In speaking or writing, put the person first so that the emphasis is on the person rather than on the disability. Group designations such as “the blind,” “the deaf” or “the disabled” are inappropriate because they do not reflect the individuality or dignity of people with disabilities. Also, inaccurate or stereotypical phrases can negatively influence the way we view people with disabilities. On the following page are examples of positive and negative phrases. Note that the positive phrases put the person first.

• person with mental retardation • retarded, mentally defective

• person who is blind, person who is • the blind
visually impaired

• person with a disability • the disabled, handicapped, “special,”
physically challenged

• person who is deaf, person who is • suffers a hearing loss, the deaf
hard of hearing

• person who has multiple sclerosis • afflicted by MS

• person with cerebral palsy • CP victim, spastic

• person with epilepsy, person with a • epileptic
seizure disorder

• person who uses a wheelchair • confined or restricted to a wheelchair,
wheelchair bound

• person who has muscular dystrophy • stricken by MD

• physically disabled • crippled, lame, deformed

• person without a disability • normal person

• unable to speak, uses synthetic speech • dumb, mute

• seizure • fit

• successful, productive • person has overcome his/her

disability; courageous (when it implies
the person has courage because of
having a disability)

• person with psychiatric disability • crazy, nuts, mentally ill

• person who no longer lives in an • the deinstitutionalized institution

• says he/she has a disability • admits he/she has a disability

Outlined below are the “Ten Commandments for Communicating with People with Disabilities” to help you in communicating with persons with disabilities.

1. When talking with a person with a disability, speak directly to that person rather than through a companion or sign language interpreter.

2. When introduced to a person with a disability, it is appropriate to offer to shake hands. People with limited hand use or who wear an artificial limb can usually shake hands. (Shaking hands with the left hand is an acceptable greeting.)
3. When meeting a person who is visually impaired, always identify yourself and others who may be with you. When conversing in a group, remember to identify the person to whom you are speaking.
4. If you offer assistance, wait until the offer is accepted. Then listen to or ask for instructions.
5. Treat adults as adults. Address people who have disabilities by their first names only when extending the same familiarity to all others. (Never patronize people who use wheelchairs by patting them on the head or shoulder.)
6. Leaning on or hanging on to a person’s wheelchair is similar to leaning on hanging on to a person and is generally considered annoying. The chair is part of the personal body space of the person who uses it.
7. Listen attentively when you’re talking with a person who has difficulty speaking. Be patient and wait for the person to finish, rather than correcting or speaking for the person. If necessary, ask short questions that require short answers, a nod or shake of the head. Never pretend to understand if you are having difficulty doing so. Instead, repeat what you have understood and allow the person to respond. The response will cue you and guide your understanding.
8. When speaking with a person who uses a wheelchair or a person who uses crutches, place yourself at eye level in front of the person to facilitate the conversation.

9. To get the attention of a person who is deaf, tap the person on the shoulder or wave your hand. Look directly at the person and speak clearly, slowly, and expressively to determine if the person can read your lips. Not all people who are deaf can read lips. For those who do lip read, be sensitive to their needs by placing yourself so that you face the light source and keep hands, cigarettes and food away from your mouth when speaking.

10. Relax. Don’t be embarrassed if you happen to use accepted, common expressions such as “See you later,” or “Did you hear about that?” that seem to relate to a person’s disability. Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you’re unsure of what to do.

The information in this section was gathered from the three following sources:

• Office of Disability Employment Policy

Frances Perkins Bldg
200 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20210
(866) 633-7365 (V) (877) 889-5626 (TTY)

• Guidelines to Reporting and Writing About People with Disabilities
Research and Training Center on Independent Living

4089 Dole Center
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
(785) 864-4095 (V) (785) 864-0706 (TTY)

www.rtcil.org

• Ten Commandments of Etiquette for Communicating with People with Disabilities
National Center for Access Unlimited

155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 315
Chicago, IL 60606
(315) 452-0643 (V)

Order from
Program Development Association
P.O. Box 2038
Syracuse, NY 13220-2058
(800) 543-2119
www.pdassoc.com/tc.html

Do learn where to find and recruit people with disabilities.

Do learn how to communicate with people who have disabilities.

Do ensure that your applications and other company forms do not ask disability-related questions and that they are in formats that are accessible to all persons with disabilities.

Do modify written job descriptions so that they identify the essential functions of the job.

Do ensure that requirements for medical examinations comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Do relax and make the applicant feel comfortable.

Do provide reasonable accommodations that the qualified applicant will need to compete for the job.

Do treat an individual with a disability the same way you would treat any applicant or employee—with dignity and respect.

Do develop procedures for maintaining and protecting confidential medical records.

Do train supervisors on making reasonable accommodations.

Don’t assume that persons with disabilities are unemployable.

Don’t assume that persons with disabilities lack the necessary education and training for employment.

Don’t assume that alcoholism and drug abuse are not real disabilities, or that recovering drug abusers are not covered by the ADA.

Don’t assume that persons with disabilities do not want to work.

Don’t assume that the cost of accident insurance will increase as a result of hiring a person with a disability.

Don’t make medical judgments.

Don’t assume that you have to retain an unqualified employee with a disability.

Don’t hire a person with a disability who is not qualified to perform the essential functions of the job even with a reasonable accommodation.

Don’t speculate or try to imagine how you would perform a specific job if you had the applicant’s disability.

Do know that persons protected by the ADA include qualified individuals who have a physical or mental impairment, including (but not limited to): AIDS, cancer, heart disease or other chronic illnesses; orthopedic disabilities; mental retardation; traumatic brain injury; emotional illness; deafness; blindness; specific learning disabilities; or recovery from substance abuse.

Do understand that access includes not only environmental access, but also making forms accessible to people with visual or cognitive disabilities and making alarms/signals accessible to people with hearing disabilities. Do value and embrace diversity in your workplace.

Do utilize the many free and appropriate resources available to help you in the process of hiring, and if necessary, accommodating employees with disabilities (see the section “Resources for Information on the ADA and Accommodations” on page 83).

Don’t hire a person with a disability if doing so poses a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the public and no reasonable accommodation is available to reduce the risk or the harm.

Don’t assume that your current management will need special training to learn how to work with people with disabilities.

Don’t ask if a person has a disability during an employment interview.

Don’t assume that the work environment will be unsafe if an employee has a disability.

Don’t assume that reasonable accommodations are expensive (most are not).

Don’t assume that you don’t have any jobs that a person with a disability can do.

Don’t assume that certain jobs are more suited to persons with disabilities.

Don’t assume that a person with a disability can’t do a job due to apparent and non-apparent disabilities.

Don’t assume that your workplace is accessible. (see following page)

How Do I Know If My Worksite is Accessible?

The following are some questions to keep in mind when determining physical accessibility:

• Are parking spaces designated for persons with disabilities that are close to the entrance of the worksite?

• Is a pathway available without abrupt level changes or steps that lead from the parking area to the entrance?

• If ramps are used to provide access, are they appropriately graded and are handrails provided?

• Are the doors wide enough (36 inches) for people using wheelchairs? Are they easy to open (e.g., not excessively heavy, with easily grasped handles, or automatic)?

• Are all pathways and ramps slip-resistant and/or have low-pile, tightly woven and securely attached carpeting?

• Is the personnel office in an accessible location?

• Are pathways to the bathroom, water fountain, and public telephone accessible? Can people with disabilities use them?

• Are elevators accessible to all persons with disabilities (e.g., control panels lower than 54 inches from the floor, raised symbols or numbers on the control panels)?

• Is all signage appropriate and accessible for persons with visual, learning, and cognitive disabilities (including the use of symbols and graphics)?

• Does the emergency warning system include both audible and visual alarms?

• Are written materials available in alternative formats (e.g. braille, audiotape, large print, etc.)?

• Are Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf (TDD’s) available for use?

Let it be known within your company that you are committed to employing, advancing, and retaining people with disabilities. If you, the boss, want it to happen, so will everyone else. Like everything else, you need to say this more than once. Send your vacancy announcements to disability-related organizations and agencies. State right on the job announcement your interest in receiving applications from people with disabilities.

Many organizations will help you find qualified individuals with disabilities. These include:

Vocational Rehabilitation

Provides a vast array of employment preparation and job placement services either directly or through contract to a broad spectrum of persons with disabilities. These can be found listed under Vocational Reahbilitation in your local phone book.

Workforce Investment Act/One-Stop Centers
Your local One-Stop Center can help you find qualified job applicants, obtain tax credits for hiring people with disabilities and reimbursement for extraordinary costs of a participant’s on the job training (up to an equivalent of half of the new employee’s wage.)

In Kansas, WIA services are offered in five Local Area offices:

Local Area I Hays (785) 628-1014
Local Area II Topeka (785) 234-0500
Local Area III Kansas City (913) 281-3000
Local Area IV Wichita (316) 268-4691
Local Area V Pittsburg (316) 232-2620

Internet link to the Kansas Job Bank: www.kansasjoblink.com

Centers for Independent Living

Provide a variety of services to individuals with a broad spectrum of disabilities. For the phone number of your local center, check your local phone book or www.ncd.gov/living_centers.htm

Veterans Affairs local and regional offices

Provide employment preparation and job placement services to veterans with disabilities under the Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling Service. Listed under federal government agencies, Department of Veterans Affairs, in your local phone directory.

Special Education Transition and Vocational Education Training Programs

Provide training, placement and on-the-job supervision for youth with disabilities. Training can be geared to local employment needs. Contact your local school districts.

Disability-specific Organizations (e.g. National Multiple Sclerosis Society, United Cerebral Palsy Foundation)

Listed in your local phone directory.
(For a partial listing of phone numbers for national centers see page 91)

Local colleges, technical colleges and universities

Provide access to students with specific professional and technical level skills. Contact the campus coordinator of services for students with disabilities.

State employment service

Provides an array of employment referral services. Listed under state government agencies in your local phone directory.

Employer Assistance Referral Network (EARN)
The Employer Assistance Referral Network (EARN), a national toll-free phone and electronic information referral service, is designed to assist employers in locating and recruiting qualified workers with disabilities. EARN, which is a service of the Office of Disability Employment Policy, can also provide technical assistance on general disability employment-related issues. EARN can be reached at (866) EARN NOW (327-6669) or www.earnworks.com.

Information about job openings should be accessible to people with different disabilities. You are not obligated to provide written information in various formats in advance, but should make it available in an accessible format such as large print, computer diskette, or audio tape upon request.

Some examples:

Job information should be available in a location that is accessible to people with mobility impairments. If a job advertisement provides only a telephone number to call for information, a TDD/TTY (telecommunication device for the deaf) number should be included if possible. Otherwise, be aware of the Kansas Relay System, which enables persons using TDD/TTYs to communicate with persons using standard telephones. The relay is a free service and can be accessed by calling 711.

Printed job information in an employment office or on employee bulletin boards should be made available, as needed, to persons with visual or other reading impairments. Preparing information in large print will help make it available to some people with visual impairments. Information can be recorded on a cassette or read to applicants with more severe vision impairments and those who have other disabilities which limit reading ability. Putting job announcements on your company web site, if you have one, is another way to make information more accessible to more people.

Make sure that all interviews are conducted in an accessible area and that if an applicant requests a special format during the interview (for example, a sign language interpreter) that you have made the necessary arrangements before the applicant arrives.

When you meet the applicant treat him or her like you would treat any other individual. When in doubt as to whether to help an individual around the limitations caused by the disability, the questions “May I be of assistance?” or “What can I do to make your visit more pleasant?” should break the ice and allow the applicant to tell you what , if anything, is needed.

If you would like further information regarding communicating with a person with a disability see the previous section titled Communicating with and about People with Disabilities.

Review your job application and eliminate any questions that are related to disability. Some examples of these questions might be:

• List any conditions or diseases for which you have been treated in the past three years.
• How many days were you absent from work because of illness last year?
• Do you have any disabilities or impairments which may affect your performance in the position for which you are applying?
• Have you ever filed a workers’ compensation insurance claim?

If an applicant is applying for a specific position, provide him or her with a copy of the job description for that position at the time of application. This way a person knows if he or she meets the job qualifications and, in the case of an individual with a disability, whether or not he or she is able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without accommodations. For more information on job descriptions and essential job functions, see the Job Descriptions and the ADA section of this book on page 33.

It is important for the interviewer to have an in-depth knowledge of the essential job functions of the position for which the applicant is applying, as well as details of why, how, where, when and by whom each task or operation is performed. This will enable the interviewer to structure the interview better and ensure that all questions are job-related. Disability related questions may not be asked in the interview.

Like all applicants, people with disabilities need to discuss their assets and liabilities during the interview. After you understand the person’s potential for the job, it’s OK to say something like ”Would you explain to me how you will perform the job and what, if any, kind of accommodation you might need?” Don’t speculate or try to imagine how you would perform a specific job if you had the applicant’s disability. The person with a disability has mastered alternative techniques and skills of living and working with his or her particular disability.

Concentrate on the applicant’s technical and professional knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences, and interests not his or her disability. Remember, you can’t interview a disability, hire a disability or supervise a disability. You can interview a person, hire a person, and supervise a person. If the applicant is not technically or professionally qualified for the position in question, end the interview.

For example: If a person uses a wheelchair and an essential function of a job is to drive a car, the interviewer should not ask if or how the disability would affect this person’s driving. The person may be asked if she or he has a valid driver’s license, and whether she or he can perform any special aspect of driving that is required, such as frequent long-distance trips, with or without an accommodation.

The interviewer could obtain needed information about an applicant’s ability and experience in relation to specific job requirements through statements and questions such as: “Eight-percent of the time of the sales job must be spent on the road covering a three-state territory. What is your outside selling experience? Do you have a valid driver’s license? What is your accident record?”

Discussing Reasonable Accommodations

During the interview, you’ll be discussing tasks done by the applicant on other jobs and tasks to be performed on the new job. Any question of accommodation should be raised after the individual is determined to meet all other job qualifications except those that he or she may not meet because of a disability.

The interview of a potentially successful candidate should end with a visit to the worksite. Then you and the candidate both understand the tasks to be performed. If a reasonable accommodation is needed – and most often it is not – the degree of accommodation can be mutually established.

Under the ADA’s regulations, the person with a disability generally has the obligation to request an accommodation, if needed. If you would like further assistance in determining appropriate accommodation solutions, see the section titled Reasonable Accommodations.