[blindlaw] "Reasonable Accommodations"

Fri Sep 6 23:44:38 UTC 2013

chuck,

i am willing to bet a person capable of ruining your ability to contract 
services didn't purposely favor another contractor and intentionally put you 
out of business either!
Bryan Schulz

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ckrugman at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] "Reasonable Accommodations"

>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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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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