Pam Shlemon Of Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification On What You Should Do If Your Employer Is Not Willing To Make Reasonable Accommodations For Your Disability
An Interview With Eric Pines
Refusing to meet reasonable accommodations perpetuates the marginalization of people with disabilities. Employers have the opportunity to be the one place that isn’t going to force an individual with a disability to advocate for themselves. As a company, you can take the onus off of employees and equip them to thrive.
There has been a significant improvement in disability inclusion in recent years. That said, there are still times when employers need to make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. What recourse is there for someone whose employer is unwilling to make reasonable accommodations? What do businesses still need to learn about making reasonable accommodations for disabled employees or customers? In this interview series, we are talking to lawyers, HR experts, disability advocates, business leaders, and authors about “What You Should Do If Your Employer Is Not Willing To Make Reasonable Accommodations For Your Disability.” As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Pam Shlemon.
Pam Shlemon is the Executive Director of the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC), a national organization dedicated to the rehabilitation counseling profession by setting the national standard for certification and to individuals with disabilities by providing leadership and advocacy. Shlemon is responsible for the strategic direction, vision, growth and performance of CRCC and its brand.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are?
Before joining CRCC as Executive Director, I co-founded the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy in 2007. There, I forged partnerships with notable institutions such as Northwest Medicine Feinberg School of Medicine, Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, Mass, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD and The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York to provide research grants and created the first and only Peripheral Neuropathy patient research registry in the United States. During my tenure, I raised millions of dollars to support our mission to advance treatments and research initiatives. Healthcare has been my passion for as long as I can remember and I’ve been incredibly fortunate with wonderful opportunities in executive leadership roles within this industry.
After 10 years at the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy, I decided to embark on a new journey, leaving the Foundation well-positioned to begin the next chapter of opportunities. In 2018, I was offered a wonderful opportunity to serve as the Executive Director of CRCC to spearhead the organization’s strategic direction, growth, performance, and brand.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Please share a story or example for each.
I learned many valuable lessons throughout my 40-year career, and each step taught me courage, motivation, and receptiveness. By embracing these traits, I was able to approach every situation as an active listener and learner, but still led with confidence. For example, I accepted a promotion with my previous employer to rebuild a region that was in dire need of transformation. That region then became the most successful region in the company. I also successfully started a national foundation without prior nonprofit experience. And during the pandemic, I quickly adapted to the sudden global economic shutdown and ensured our stakeholders and clients were not impacted. Each situation had its challenges, but I was able to navigate them confidently because of these traits I developed throughout the years.
Can you share a story about one of your greatest work-related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?
Sure, I would say I am dealing with that today. Rehabilitation Counseling is the oldest counseling profession codified into law over 100 years ago through the passage of the Soldier’s Rehabilitation Act of 1918 and the Smith-Fess Act of 1920, yet most people today are unfamiliar with the profession. Because of this lack of awareness, businesses continue to struggle to provide the proper resources and accommodations necessary to foster an inclusive workplace.
Our focus is to bring this profession to the forefront and shed light on the impact that these experts have on individuals with disabilities and employers. CRCs (Certified Rehabilitation Counselors) provide a bridge between the individual and self-sufficiency, assisting their clients to live fully integrated lives. Through a comprehensive approach, CRCs work with the whole person, to help them understand the functional implications of their disability and the environmental constraints that may occur. They empower individuals with disabilities to articulate their needs and achieve their personal, social, psychological, vocational and independent living goals.
We want more people to be aware of this profession so that all businesses will recognize the importance of having CRCs on their teams to be able to fully support their employees and prevent difficult situations that may arise when there aren’t disability experts in the workplace. By doing so, we’ll be able to garner more interest in the profession, increase funding for rehabilitation counseling education in colleges and universities, and grow the number of disability experts in public and private sectors.
“Our profession has helped to empower people with disabilities to maximize their autonomy, adjust and adapt to barriers created by society, exercise the right to make their own decisions, to find their life’s purpose or calling through engaging in meaningful careers, and enhance their independence and self-sufficiency.” Kyle Walker, CRC, President of CRCC
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I am very excited about our future at CRCC and proud of the partnerships we have developed over the last few years. There is so much work to be done to improve the lives of individuals with disability and in doing so, CRCC recognizes the importance of working with other disability organizations to meet similar goals. One of the projects we are thrilled about is our international expansion. We are also currently working on a robust awareness campaign, developing an undergraduate program, creating an emerging leader network and advocating for disability rights to policymakers.
Fantastic. Let’s now shift to our discussion about inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so essential for a business or organization to have an inclusive work culture?
Individuals with disabilities bring their skills and talents to our nation’s workplaces. They perform various jobs at all levels, in businesses of all sizes. Unfortunately, individuals with disabilities, including veterans, have a lower rate of employment than the general population. Disability inclusion should be seen as a workplace culture choice, not as a response to an applicant or employee with disabilities. Organizations should be prepared for the best employees possible, which means focusing on who they are and their abilities, not their disabilities. These individuals can perform just as well, if not better, compared to able-bodied people. Having a disability doesn’t mean their value is diminished.
Can you share a few examples of ideas that were implemented at your workplace to help promote disability inclusion? Can you share with us how the work culture was impacted as a result?
CRCC prioritizes the inclusion of people with various types of disabilities. This is particularly important for our organization because of the work we do supporting certified rehabilitation counselors and their clients. As mentioned earlier, we recognize people for their abilities, not disabilities. We hire diverse people because that’s the culture we believe in — to hire folks spanning the globe.
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what this looks like in practice?
Under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a job, work environment, or hiring process. I can’t stress this enough: individuals with a disability must have an equal opportunity not only to get a job, but successfully perform their job tasks to the same extent as people without disabilities.
If you have an employee that may have a visual impairment, for example, ensure that the individual has the proper modifying equipment, such as a screen reader, Zoom text, or JAWS. It’s important to remember that not all disabilities are visible.
Employers might have reservations related to the cost of needed job accommodations, but these concerns are largely unfounded. The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) conducted a study that shows most accommodations do not cost, of those that do incur a cost, the typical one-time expenditure of $300. When thinking about accommodations, business should be thinking of the benefits, such as reduced training cost, increased productivity and morale. Reasonable accommodations should not be viewed as special treatment, but as a value to all employees.
This is just one area where CRCs add value to a business. They reduce risk of errors with their knowledge and skill with the current regulations associated with employment law, including ADA, workers’ comp, FMLA, and EEO, which reduces legal liability and exposure. CRCs also help maintain the workforce, reduce lost work days and minimize return-to-work recovery costs, and much more.
Aside from what is legally required, what best practices can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? Please share a few examples.
The best way for businesses to make the workplace feel more inclusive of people with disabilities is to have CRCs on staff in HR departments. Unlike those who aren’t certified, CRCs meet the minimal competencies to work with individuals with disabilities, are bound by a Code of Ethics, and are required to demonstrate continuous learning. You wouldn’t want to see a non-certified rehabilitation counselor the same way you wouldn’t want to be treated by a non-certified doctor or dentist. When professionals don’t fulfill certain critical requirements, they can negatively impact those who need their services.
CRCs are held to the highest standards and can comprehensively serve individuals with a wide range of disabilities. They are experts in disability, ADA requirements and have specialized skills in counseling those with all types of disabilities, so they can help employers establish an inclusive workplace beyond what’s legally required.
Here is the central question of our interview. What are the best steps to take if an employee feels that reasonable accommodations are not being made to address their needs? Can you please share “five things one can do if a business is unwilling to make reasonable accommodations for their disability?”
If a business is unwilling to meet reasonable accommodations, it begs the question, “what commitments have they made to diversity, equity, and inclusion?” Refusing to meet reasonable accommodations perpetuates the marginalization of people with disabilities. Employers have the opportunity to be the one place that isn’t going to force an individual with a disability to advocate for themselves. As a company, you can take the onus off of employees and equip them to thrive.
Some organizations are ignorant to the needs of those with disabilities. To introduce disability inclusion, make organizations aware that it is against the law to discriminate based on ability. One thing you can do is sit down with an accommodations specialist, such as a CRC, and explain why you need accommodations to perform your job.
On the other hand, employers may misunderstand what accommodations are needed or how to fulfill them. This scenario likely wouldn’t arise if a CRC was on staff, as their expertise is in advocating for employee accommodations.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?
I have a few favorite life lesson quotes, but one that speaks to me the most is by Roy T. Bennet: “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” My career choices have always been about the impact I can make on society, large or small.
You are a person of significant influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I want society to understand what true inclusivity looks like for the disabled community. Navigating a disability is already difficult, but when these individuals want to be contributing members of society, they face several challenges to do so. In 2023, there are still significant everyday barriers facing people with disabilities, especially vocational barriers. Individuals with disabilities are much less likely to be employed than those with no disability. The jobless rate for those with a disability is about twice as high as the rate for those without a disability, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There are also avocational examples that are invisible to individuals that aren’t personally impacted by a disability. For example, as you shop, notice how many businesses don’t have handicap buttons to open doors automatically and consider how a person in a wheelchair will enter. Or when you’re grocery shopping, think about how someone in a wheelchair may struggle to reach the top shelves. Disabled folks should have the same opportunities as able- bodied people. True equality is as big as getting hired and small as grabbing a bottle of soda. While progress has been made, we need more awareness and action from business leaders, advocacy organizations, and policy makers to reduce the barriers impacting those with disabilities.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can learn more about CRCC on https://crccertification.com/, and follow us on social media:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/crccert/
https://www.facebook.com/crccert/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you continued success and good health!
