“My needs are simple,” says Guilia Motta of the workplace accommodations that help her do her work at the Maryland Disability Determination Services (DDS) more comfortably and efficiently. According to the American Disabilities Act, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, a reasonable workplace accommodation by an employer for a person with a disability can mean making work facilities more accessible, modifying a job description or work schedule, or providing special equipment, devices, materials or readers/interpreters to assist the employee in doing his or her job.
Standard office furniture and equipment are designed for workers significantly taller than Guilia, who describes herself as “short” and uses a wheelchair for mobility. Guilia spends much of her workday on the phone gathering information about DDS’s vendors, so finding a desk that could be adjusted to her height and bring her phone and paperwork within comfortable reach was key.
Other simple modifications DDS made for Guilia include putting the fax machine on a low table and at a tilt, so she can see more easily see and use the controls, and replacing her standard computer keyboard with a more ergonomic split keyboard model.
In the Case Control offices in the other side of the building, Emily Webster’s accommodations are a bit more high tech. Emily, who has vision impairment, uses a closed-circuit camera system to scan documents and magnify them on a television screen in a size that is easier for her to read. She also uses two programs designed for computer users who have vision impairments: MAGIC, which magnifies computer text on the screen, and JAWS, an audio program that reads computer text aloud. The keys on her keyboard have been fitted with labels bearing the name of the key in magnified print. All of these aids help Emily review and route hundreds of files of incoming paper and electronic documents.
By providing these and similar accommodations to talented employees with disabilities, the DDS ensures a skilled and well-equipped workforce ready to efficiently process the tens of thousands of Social Security benefits cases adjudicated each year.