From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox
Around the job site, we all need a boost every now and then. For some folks extra accommodation can make all the difference between working with dignity when you have a disability as opposed to being kept in the shadows or worse: out of work. Some disabilities are obvious but others need special attention. The first stop when you have questions about this issue should be the American’s With Disabilities Act information site. Here’s a good article about a recent workshop conducting over in Michigan addressing this very issue.
Telling the Boss ‘I Have A Disability’ by Julie Swidwa writing for the Herald-Palladium
BENTON HARBOR – People who are disabled are under no legal obligation to tell their employers. In the case of some hidden disabilities, the “don’t tell” policy can be best. But a worker who will need accommodations should disclose his or her disability, a community educator told a group of disabled workers at a workshop titled “How, When & Why to Disclose a Disability to an Employer.”
Michele McGowen, of the Disability Network of Southwest Michigan, said, “If you think you’re having performance problems, it’s best for you to go in to the boss rather than ignore it.”
McGowen presented the workshop at Michigan Works in Benton Harbor with Paul Ecklund, disability rights advocate, and Ebony Douglas, independent living specialist. They all work for the Disability Network, based in Kalamazoo and with offices in Battle Creek and St. Joseph. About 10 people attended the workshop.
Americans With Disabilities Act, particularly as it relates to employment. Douglas worked with participants in considering examples of when to and not to disclose a disability.
“If you think about the life span, having a disability will be a part of life for almost everyone,” she said. “Some people develop one earlier, and some people have more than one, but almost everyone will have a disability at some point.”
Ecklund said the Americans With Disabilities Act is intended to protect disabled people from discrimination and retaliation, but sometimes the law and real life conflict. He said the ADA also protects businesses from having to over-accommodate or go broke.
The law offers no set definition of disability, but states that it limits a person’s capacity to do a job without special accommodations.
Read the rest of the piece here:
