Reference no: EM132286433

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) forbids discrimination on the basis of disability and further requires that employers make reasonable accommodation for disabled employees. Not surprisingly, some employers see this requirement as an extra cost and see disabled employees as liabilities. But many other employers have come to see that people with disabilities are often capable of being productive and committed employees and that accommodations are often relatively easy and inexpensive. Moreover, by employing a diverse workforce, they are often better able to engage with and understand a larger customer base. To illustrate this point, consider two examples. Rick, a construction engineer who broke his back in an auto accident, is a paraplegic suffering from vocal-cord damage. However, he also holds a productive job, managing complaints for building-construction projects. At both home and office, Rick uses a mouse activated by one finger and an on-screen keyboard because his voice is too soft for most voice- recognition software. David, whose job requires speech- recognition software and a trackball mouse to compensate for impaired manual dexterity and verbal communication, coordinates health care strategies and operations at the Department of Defense. Both Rick and David depend on employer-provided assistive technology, and according to David, it’s “a real equal- izer for people with disabilities.... It not only raises your productivity but also your expectations for yourself. That’s a good feeling for the individual and good for the employer, too.” In addition to the sort of hardware, software, and pe- ripherals that help people like Rick and David perform jobs requiring computer access, assistive technology includes such lower-tech equipment as walkers and wheelchairs—much of which makes accommodating disabled workers less expen- sive than you might think. Low-tech, low-cost accommoda- tion for a visually impaired person might entail nothing more than adjusting the lighting, supplying magnification devices, and/or fitting the work schedule to mass transit. More se- verely impaired individuals may need higher-tech assistance, but the technology is usually reasonably priced. (Dragon NaturallySpeaking, for example, the speech-recognition software that David uses, sells for $199.) Both Rick and David suffer from permanent disabilities, but experts estimate that as many as 20 percent of us will experience some form of physical disability at some point in our careers or lives. In addition, it’s worth remembering that currently employed baby boomers are getting older. “The population is aging,” says Diana Burke, VP for information se- curity at RBC Financial Group, “and people are losing hearing, vision, and mobility as the years progress. This affects employ- ees and customers. We have to keep up with their declining abilities, or we’ll find ourselves in the position of not being able to serve our customers or leverage employees’ talents.” Adds Dinah Cohen, director of the Department of Defense’s Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP), “It’s not just people born with disabilities who need assistive tech- nology. More and more, [CAP is] serving people who acquire disabilities later in life.... We’re all potential users.”

Think It Over

1. Can you identify examples of ADA accommodations in general and assistive technology in particular at your school or employer?

2. What are the implications of assistive technology for a large business with global operations?