Phone line offers tips on working with disabled

Hiring loyal, capable help who are committed to their jobs is a challenge that county officials can't take lightly. Selecting the right staff requires a common sense understanding of what the job requires and what the applicants can do, overlaid by a necessary awareness of federal rights laws and state employment statutes.

If a qualified person happens to possess a disability, the temptation may be to count it as a mark against hiring them, but the Americans With Disabilities Act says you can't do that. It's the law -- an employer cannot discriminate against an individual with a disability.

Fine, but what if the person's impairment interferes with the job? Isn't it obvious that a data entry clerk whose shoulder injury won't let him turn to his right to type on the keyboard just can't handle the job? Well, no. Maybe the desk can be reconfigured to the left.

"There are lots of creative ways to make minor, inexpensive adjustments that facilitate a disabled person's ability to perform essential job functions," explained Employment Specialist Mandy

Magnification aids some visual disabilities.

Gamble of the Job Assistance Network, known as JAN.

JAN operates a no-charge, 800 number service that helps would-be employers with suggestions on how to fit a person with a handicap most easily -- and inexpensively -- into a particular job. A call to (800) ADA-WORK will get a trained specialist whose responsibility is to help hirers think creatively. Employers' inquiries are confidential.

"An employer may know a lot about all aspects of hiring and employee relations, but we provide the expertise in disability issues," Gamble said. "People can't know everything."

Eighty percent of the accommodations suggested by JAN cost less than $500, according to information provided on the organization's Internet site at http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu.

Ideas proposed range from changing a desk layout (cost: $0), providing a telephone amplifier for someone hard of hearing (cost: $56) to buying an articulating keyboard to alleviate strain of repetitive motion and carpal tunnel syndrome (cost: $150).

More expensive solutions have included providing a drafting table, page turner and pressure sensitive tape recorder for an individual paralyzed from a broken neck ($950) or setting up a specially designed table with a computer, printer and a large print display processor so that a person who is legally blind can perform such duties as typing, answering phones, filing and photocopying (cost $1,360).

When a call comes in, the nature of the disability is determined and the call routed to a specialist who knows about the issues raised by that impairment, Gamble said.

"First the specialist asks some questions. If it's vision-related, I might ask about whether the person is benefiting from some form of magnification, and how much, for example," she said. "Then we turn to the job tasks. If it requires reading correspondence, we might look into the suitability of a hand or stand magnifier or even a video-camera and closed circuit television arrangement."

Many times, a disability merely calls for flexibility, instead of products.

"Maybe a person with diabetes just needs to be able to take periodic breaks to check their blood glucose level, or permission to eat snacks at their desks," Gamble said. "If a person needs regular treatments by a medical professional during the work week, it may be possible to schedule them to start work later and leave later in the evening."

A project of the 52-year-old President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, JAN operates under the assumption that job accommodations can increase the pool of qualified employees and that the public supports helping the disabled get work.

The organization's Internet site highlights a recent Harris Poll in which 83 percent of those polled said that creating opportunities for those with disabilities will decrease welfare rolls and increase employment opportunities; while only 12 percent feel it will be very expensive and not worth the cost for employers to hire more people with disabilities.