[blindlaw] Federal Hiring Processes and Accommodations

[Shickeytha Chandler]

Cody,

Hello from your former colleague in the NCSU MPA program! I personally do
not have experience navigating an inaccessible assessment in the federal
hiring process. However, given my current role in GAO’s recruiting office,
I would be interested to learn the outcome of your situation. I think we
generally do not require medical documentation during the application
process for accommodations related to the application and interview
process, but I will check with some of my colleagues who have knowledge
about common practices in other agencies.



On Thursday, June 13, 2019, Cody Davis via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> All,
>
> Has anyone had any experience requesting accommodations in the federal
> hiring process?
>
> I have applied for a paralegal position in a U.S. Attorneys office. Part
> of the application requires taking multiple online assessments of various
> kinds, some of which are timed and some of which, I think, include videos.
> When I attempted to take the assessments myself, I found that my screen
> reader had difficulty interacting with the assessment content. I am using
> Voiceover on a Mac, and I tried using both Safari and Firefox browsers with
> no success.
>
> I submitted the required form to request accommodations through the U.S.
> Staffing Office several days ago. I included a Schedule A letter to
> document my disability and need for accommodations. I was submitting the
> application on the second to final day it was open, and the request for
> accommodations had to be submitted by the job closing date, so I had to
> rely on the Schedule A letter as it was the only documentation I had
> available to me.
>
> The US Staffing Office got back to me today to let me know that they need
> further documentation of my disability, why that interferes with my ability
> to take the assessments, what accommodations I am requesting, and how those
> accommodations will enable me to complete the assessments. I have no
> problem getting this documentation to them, but it will take some time. I
> received the request today at 3PM and it gave me a deadline of June 16 by
> 3PM to submit the additional documentation. A single business day and 2
> weekend days is not sufficient time to get documentation from a VR
> counselor or medical professional. I have requested more time to submit
> documentation.
>
> Has anyone else had experience requesting accommodations for assessments
> as part of a federal government job application?
> If so, what documentation did you rely on and from whom did you get the
> Documentation. I am wondering if a letter from my VR Counselor will be
> sufficient.
> Finally, does anyone else believe the deadline they gave me for submitting
> the additional documentation is unreasonable?
>
> I am grateful for any insight you all may have to share.
>
> Respectfully,
> Cody Davis
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