Disability and work Wiki:Disability Adjustments

 

Welcome to the Disability Adjustments Wiki
This Wiki is all about the many different ways disabled people can be supported in employment. In the UK the Equality Act (2010) obliges employers to provide support known as reasonable adjustments, whereas in USA and Canada these are known as accommodations. There are many similar legal codes from across the world, but ultimately they have the same focus; providing assistance or making changes to a job role or workplace that will enable the worker to carry out their job function.

The varying approaches taken to defining disability notwithstanding, demographers agree that the world population of individuals with disabilities is very large. For example, in 2004, the World Health Organization estimated a world population of 6.5 billion people, of those nearly 100 million people were estimated to be moderately or severely disabled.[51]  In the United States, Americans with disabilities constitute the third-largest minority (after persons of Hispanic origin and African Americans); all three of those minority groups number in the 30-some millions in America.[51]  According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as of 2004, there were some 32 million disabled adults (aged 18 or over) in the United States, plus another 5 million children and youth (under age 18). If one were to add impairments—or limitations that fall short of being disabilities—Census estimates put the figure at 51 million.[52]

There is also widespread agreement among experts in the field that disability is more common in developing than in developed nations. The connection between disability and poverty is thought to be part of a "vicious cycle" in which these constructs are mutually reinforcing.[53]



This Wiki is devoted to the principles laid out in Article 27 of the [Convention on the Rights of Disabled People]. The Convention requires that States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis of others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities. And that States Parties shall safeguard and promote the realization of the right to work, including for those who acquire a disability during the course of employment, by taking appropriate steps, including through legislation, to inter alia:

States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not held in slavery or in servitude, and are protected, on an equal basis with others, from forces or compulsory labour.
 * 1) Prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions;
 * 2) Protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, including protection from harassment, and the redress of grievances;
 * 3) Ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others;
 * 4) Enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and vocational and continuing training;
 * 5) Promote employment opportunities and career advancement for persons with disabilities in the labour market, as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment;
 * 6) Promote opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, the development of cooperative and starting one's own business.
 * 7) Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace.
 * 8) Promote the acquisition by persons with disabilities of work experience in the open labour market.
 * 9) Promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for persons with disabilities.

Reasonable Adjustments/Accommodations
This Wiki is has been designed to offer guidance and suggestions about adjustments or accommodations and the ways in which specific impairments impact upon an individual's ability to do their job.

The Wiki pages contain a brief overview of specific impairments and then suggests what accommodations might be suitable. It should be noted that although this Wiki is designed to provide guidance to disabled people, their employers and other professionals working in this area (HR, Occupational Health, Occupational Therapy, Coaches, Consultants and Needs Assessors), it should not supplant consulting a trained professional when considering which accommodations are appropriate for an individual's needs.

This said, the process of determining the appropriateness of support can be broadly broken down in to the following areas:
 * 1) The nature of the individual’s impairment: Information provided by the employee, a medical or other suitable professional and any diagnostic reports will help provide the essential information.
 * 2) The requirements of the job and its related task and competence requirements: A thorough job analysis will help to identify those job tasks most likely to be influenced by impairment effects. In so doing this may present initial suggestions for accommodations.
 * 3) The working environment and working practices: The way an organization is designed, it's functions, processes and procedures may all have an affect on a disabled employee. It is not just the physical aspects of thw workplace that needs to be considered.
 * 4) The requirements of any associated training and assessment: The way in which disabled employees engage with training, selection and assessment practices may require additional focus for accommodations. However this is one area that is often neglected, especially when it is not recruitment related.

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