[nfbwatlk] More reflections on "reasonable accommodation"

[Mary ellen]

Well-reasoned and thoughtful, Elizabeth.  Clearly we are in a transition period where concepts, as well as practical techniques, are changing rapidly.

The task of NFB (and others) is to think creatively and get ahead of the culture.  

My sons are still trying to figure out where they want to fit in the world.  (They're all sighted, by the way.)  Paul and I frequently find ourselves frustrated by what appears to us to be a tendency to drift along.  The more I think about it, though, I realize they, too, are adjusting to a world that was very different from the way it was even a few years ago.  They will have to rely on character traits and remain flexible.  The most interesting observation for me is that they do not necessarily define success in the same way as their parents.  They seem to be far more concerned about internal satisfaction than salary, for example.  I suspect that a good deal of this will change when they need to support themselves and their families.  (Life is not so complicated when Dad and Mom take care of the roof, the heat, and the food.)

Blind people face all these deep philosophical questions, too. In addition,  we need to manage the problem of equipment that was designed with never a thought about our existence, let alone our inclusion!

NFB is doing amazing work on access.  The Federation has always fostered a culture that encourages hard work, creativity, and determination. It's going to be harder for us as more and more jobs are short-term.  We can't figure something out and trust it will last until we're ready to retire.

Most jobs come through small businesses.  The major "reasonable accommodation" thrust has been aimed at larger companies.  I believe we're at a stage where we need to focus attention on Main Street small employers rather than on large employers and their systems.  It's going to be a one person at a time slog that will call for the best in all of us.  I believe in us; I believe in the capacity of our sighted neighbors to recognize quality where they find it.  

The more we insist that we're part of the culture, not an add-on for those with specialized interests and social consciences, the more we help shape the conversation, the action, and the results.  Now, how it all works in everyday practice is the challenge.

 
-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Rene via nfbwatlk
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2014 1:47 PM
To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nfbwatlk] More reflections on "reasonable accommodation"

Hi Mike, Debbie, Mary Ellen, and everyone, Thank you for your comments and conversation about job hunting and "reasonable accommodation."
In my last post, I suggested A re-visitation of the term "reasonable accommodation," arguing that it carried overtones of paternalism, and questioning whether it didn't offer at least a subliminal invitation to ask employers to take care of us (and make allowances for our disabilities) rather than a gateway to full equal opportunity in the workplace. 
I argued that women, for example, did not request "accommodation" when insisting on gender appropriate bathrooms in formerly male-dominated work venues. We feminists argued that the adjustments made to the work environment through the influence of women would benefit all. To a point, at least, I think that prophecy has come true.
The ADA and its amendments have brought people with disabilities into the mainstream culture. Little by little, it is becoming less and less shameful to lay claim  to a disability.
Little by little, for many reasons, The idea of human finitude is becoming less an indictment of the individual and more a fact of the human condition.
More and more, the concepts of a quality and accessibility embodied in the ADA are becoming accepted as the civil rights that they were intended to be. And because of the ADA and it's statutory precursors, "reasonable accommodation" has become a legal term of art, carrying meaning distinct from that which the words alone might impart.
As a term of art, the ideas embodied in "reasonable accommodation" evolve with the culture, with the changing attitudes of the courts, and with shifting political sensibilities.
Whoever thought, in 1990 for example, that a major contender in the computer industry would build accessibility into the heart of its operating systems?
But it seems to me that questions still remain as to where our responsibility as blind people leaves off and that of society and employers begins.
Mike, I think that the blindness skills that you cite in your most recent posts have their place – working with an amanuensis, using a slate and stylus, and administering one's own insulin injection, for example. But to me this is the blindness equivalent of what everyone must do "off the grid,"when the power is out and the Internet comes down. They don't fit the everyday 21st century workplace anymore then weaving on a handloom or spinning yarn could make one's living after the Industrial Revolution.
 And we are in the middle of another Industrial Revolution.
Our ideas, our self-concept as resourceful  employees and entrepreneurs, and our skills have to keep pace.
And so should our expectations.
I don't fault at all the diabetics who insist on universal accessibility in the medical devices  marketed to them. If blindness is a foreseeable outcome of diabetes, isn't it about time for this?
And I'm not at all surprised that an employer might ask whether some piece of technology could make a human reader unnecessary. When was the last time you saw job openings for amanuenses on Craigslist? Not an especially flourishing career path. If anything, the use of a reader is task specific, and one can't reasonably expect an employer to hire someone just for that purpose (I'd like to know what the Feds do though).
I grew up being taught all of the traditional blindness skills. But when I graduated from college in 1972 and wanted an office job to support my ongoing criminal justice activism, I found that typewriters weren't being used anymore – only word processors. And these didn't speak. I had edited my high school newspaper, and had written freelance articles, gratis, for a national prison reform journal. But already I was being told that the process of submitting news copy was automated, and I wouldn't have a place in journalism.
I'm thinking aloud as I plot the direction of this post, so, my apologies for rambling.
Two thoughts come to mind at this point.
One is that the internal processes of each employer are not necessarily evident from the job description or even from an interview, and may be actively concealed as a legitimate business secret. Wiat the cited applicant observes (and absorbs) while walking through an office on the way to an interview might not catch our attention as we focus on the skills requested by the employer to fill the need. And as the employer sits down with HR managers to tease out the essential functions of a job, none might suspect that the medical record keeping or law office management software saving the company thousands each month is incompatible with JAWS. The devil is in the details.
The other thought is this: combat veterans who would have died on the battlefield only years ago are coming home to work and live in society with wounds demanding technologies heretofore unimagined. These vets don't want to be shut-ins. And who dares deny them the life they've paid for?
What I'm aiming for here is a concept beyond "reasonable accommodation." "Reasonable accommodation" is personal. The barrier free workplace – the barrier free market place – is societal. With "reasonable accommodation,"The wheel has to be refitted or refashined case by case. In a barrier free society, the same wheels could spin for everyone.
That's my dream.
Thanks for reading,
Elizabeth   
 

Elizabeth M René
Attorney at Law
WSBA #10710
KCBA #21824
rene0373 at gmail.com
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