Designing Work Spaces That Account for Disability
Employers need to become much more savvy when it comes to designing work spaces for those with various kinds of disability. Ensuring hallways, doorways, and work spaces are wide enough for wheel chairs, and accounting for other forms of disability in the workplace is the subject of much discussion and implementation on a corporate level.
An important part of that discussion is centered on what reasonable accommodation is. Under the law it is defined as, “ {30} An employer must make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitation of a qualified individual with a disability unless it can show that the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the operation of its business. 42 U.S.C.A. § 12112(b)(5)(A). A reasonable accommodation is “any change in a job or work environment, or an application process that enables a qualified person with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities.” BNA, Americans With Disabilities Act Manual, § 20:0007. The ADA specifically lists what may constitute reasonable accommodation.”
Reading this shows that it isn’t quite as black and white as employers would probably like. The opportunity for a very subjective view on this can cause some employees to feel like their needs are not being met regarding reasonable accommodation. This has caused the ADA and States to get really serious on what reasonable accommodation means. Looking at news reports shows a consistent pattern of fines, additional laws to address issues, and people seeking to define more clearly what the rules actually mean.
So, all of that aside, what can employers actually do to figure out workable designs for their work spaces? It is usually best to ask the people with the disabilities what they reasonably need to accomplish their jobs. When thinking about building new, or renting new spaces, designing for disability needs to be part of the blueprint. All organizations are going to have people within their infrastructure that fall within the ADA. Knowing what they are responsible to accommodate for, and having a willingness to do so makes them a top pick for employees with different kinds of disabilities.
In report after report it is clear that many companies need to take this much more to heart. The world is full of people who need to work and yet have some kind of a disability. Employers shouldn’t have to jump over the moon to accommodate people, and the law ensures that there are exclusions to what they are required to do. They should care though. There is a vested interest on their part to show caring toward employees who are challenged in some way. When companies have a long view of the situation, they see the need to figure this issue out. It improves their corporation’s community standing, lessens fines for violations, and draws in an excellent pool of team players who are current underutilized in the work force. Its time to see those with disabilities as valuable, and worth both the discussion to solve the design problems in spaces, and the implementation of making sure they can function in the work environment just like the rest of the team.
