[blindlaw] "Reasonable Accommodations"

[Ronza Othman]

Hi Jordan,

Strictly speaking, though an employer is required to provide you with
reasonable accommodations so you can effectively perform your job duties,
the employer is not obligated to provide you with the accommodation you
prefer.  So, for example, if I request Jaws, but my employer has WindowEyes
approved on the technology infrastructure, the employer is not required to
give me Jaws unless WindowEyes is not going to be effective.  It'd be hard
to win such an argument.  A better example is if you request Jaws and they
offer you ZoomText - you could argue that ZoomText would be an effective
accommodation because it isn't as powerful, doesn't have as many features,
and emphasizes zooming in rather than speech, and you are totally blind and
can't use the zoom feature.  

Now Braille is a more difficult area.  If you are asking for a $6K Braille
embosser while working at a nonprofit that employs 2 people, they could
argue that such an expense would constitute an undue hardship on the
employer (much harder for them to argue this when they're a larger employer
because they have to look at their entire company budget).  But they could
buy you a Braille writer or slate and stylus.  Or, they could, theoretically
say, "we'll give you Jaws.  Then you'd have to justify you need Braille, and
what sort of device to access it.  But if you can get your work done
effectively without a Braille embosser, then they're not going to be
obligated to provide it.  Remember, the rule for reasonable accommodations
in the workplace is that employers have to provide effective reasonable
accommodations, not the accommodation of choice.

There's a terrific document on the EEOC's website called "Enforcement
Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship under the Americans
with Disabilities Act."  The document can be accessed at
http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/accommodation.html

Hope this helps.  Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,
Ronza


-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Robert
Jaquiss
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2013 7:28 PM
To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] "Reasonable Accommodations"

Hello:

     I would suggest that the best accommodation for print material that is
not available electronically would be a scanner and either K1000 or
Openbook. Unless you are dealing with books, scanning the documents goes
reasonably quickly with modern software.

Regards,

Robert


-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jordan
Richardson
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2013 12:30 PM
To: Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: [blindlaw] "Reasonable Accommodations"

Hi everybody!

When are employers obligated to provide Braille as a reasonable
accommodation?  Is it only where electronic is not possible?  Does the
employer make the arrangements or do I?

Thanks,
Jordan Richardson 

Sent from my iPad
_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindlaw:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/rjaquiss%40earthlink.n
et


_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindlaw:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/rothmanjd%40gmail.com