[blindlaw] "Reasonable Accommodations"

Fri Sep 6 23:16:03 UTC 2013

I agree with your comments. I have been working since I was in high school 
in the late sixties and whether I got and kept a job depended much upon my 
own resourcefulness when it came to ways of figuring out how I would do it. 
Much of this was long before reasonable accommodation had even been thought 
of. in one of my first jobs while in high school working as a telemarketer I 
had to have friends and/or family record call lists so I could make my 
calls. I had to keep notes of contacts in Braille and the accommodation by 
the employer was that when I made a sale a coworker or supervisor would 
write up the details for me. I frequently had to do my own transcribing of 
other documents in later jobs and it seemed normal for me to do it without 
asking for accommodation other than having the documents recorded for 
transcription sometimes at my own expense. When I worked as a mental health 
clinician my employer did have support staff record newly assigned files and 
other incoming information on tape for me to refer to or transcribe notes as 
I saw fit. When I worked as a vocational expert in Social Security hearings 
I had to hire my own reader/assistant at my own expense. Now as a free lance 
paralegal I regularly have to find individual solutions to accommodate how I 
do my job. While it has become easier with the improvements in technology I 
can only expect the law firms or solo practitioners that I work with to do 
so much. After all I am marketing myself as a competent professional to 
provide services. The duty of reasonable accommodation can't always be 
passed on to an employer or contractor. The more self-reliant and 
independent  you are in a work setting the greater likelihood exists that 
you won't be part of the 70% of unemployed blind people.
Chuck

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>; <blinddog3 at charter.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2013 9:51 AM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] "Reasonable Accommodations"

> Jordan,
>
> As you know, I'm not a lawyer but have been employed for a long time, so 
> my comments here are of a practical nature rather than
> from a strictly legal perspective.  In terms of reasonable accommodations, 
> there are many variables that have to be taken into
> account.  I think it is probably fair to say that your goal should be to 
> figure out how you can do a given job with the least
> requirements placed upon your employer while giving you as much control as 
> possible.  Whether your employer is obligated to
> provide a given accommodation can depend some on whether you are employed 
> by the government or whether you are in the private
> sector.  Also, even though you might be able to make a case that something 
> is required, if your employer is small, it could be
> considered an undo burrden under the law.  Even if it isn't, it is hard to 
> prove that the extra cost of hiring you didn't affect
> how they viewed you as a job candidate, so as much as possible, you want 
> to present approaches that put you in control.
>
> What do you mean when you ask about providing braille?  If you mean do 
> they have to provide documents in paper braille, you need
> to consider that they are not likely going to have the ability to do that 
> in-house unlike your experience at the University of
> Minnesota.  You will probably know more about it than they will.  They 
> will probably have to provide documents using a third party
> and if there are deadlines, this won't always be possible whether it is 
> the law or not.  Commercially produced hardcopy braille is
> also expensive.  You are going to want to become familiar with how to 
> produce your own braille documents when you neeed to, and
> sometimes you'll only want a particular portion in braille.  If you need a 
> braille printer and software to do this, you might be
> able to negotiate with Minnesota State Services for the Blind for some of 
> this if it means getting a job.  It is important to know
> your rights under the law, but at the same time it is good to remember 
> that it is up to you to get a given task done, and
> sometimes this means that you have to be innovative and resourceful.
>
> Jordan, if you want to talk through some of this, there are certainly a 
> number of us locally who would be willing to try to help.
> Even with the law, handling some of this is different than it is while you 
> are in school.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jordan
>>Richardson
>>Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2013 2:30 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
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>
>
>
>
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