Appendix A to Part 32
29:1.1.1.1.30.5.66.5.9 : Appendix A
Appendix A to Part 32
Accommodations may take many forms based on the type of handicap
and the needs of the individual. In developing appropriate
accommodations, the individual should be consulted as to particular
needs.
The following is a list of possible types of accommodations
provided for guidance and technical assistance. These suggestions
are not mandatory, and other forms of accommodation not described
herein may be required if they are appropriate to meet the needs of
particular handicapped individuals.
Accommodations for Participants and Employees
(a) Job restructuring means the procedure which includes:
(1) Identifying the separate tasks that comprise a job or group
of jobs;
(2) Developing new position descriptions which retain some of
the tasks of the original job; and
(3) Developing a career ladder which builds upward from the new
positions which contain the lesser skilled tasks to regular jobs. A
restructured job can be clearly different from the original one in
terms of skills, knowledge, abilities, and work experience needed
to perform the work. Job restructuring is intended to maximize the
abilities of the particular handicapped person and is not intended
to permit a recipient to underemploy or job-stereotype that person.
A restructured job, for example, could be one in which the more
highly skilled but physically less demanding duties are retained,
e.g. operating controls and switches in a steel mill, and less
skilled, physically taxing duties, e.g. lifting, pulling, are
reassigned to non-handicapped employees.
(b) Modify job or program schedules, for example, by allowing
for a flexible schedule a few days a week so that a participant or
employee may undergo medical treatment or therapy. Work-times or
participation in program activities may also be altered to permit
handicapped individuals to travel to and from work during non-rush
hours. For employees or participants who become unable to perform
the duties of their positions because of a physical or mental
condition, recipients may be required to grant liberal time off or
leave without pay when paid sick leave is exhausted and when the
disability is of a nature that it is likely to respond to treatment
of hospitalization. See, e.g., 339 Federal Personnel
Manual-1-3(b)(1).
(c) Modify program and work procedures and training time.
(d) Relocate particular offices or jobs or program activities so
that they are in facilities accessible to and usable by qualified
handicapped persons. For example, an employee or participant with a
respiratory ailment can be placed in a “nonsmoking” and/or
well-ventilated office.
(e) Acquire or modify equipment or devices. For hearing-impaired
participants or employees, this may include placing amplifiers on
telephone receivers, making telephone equipment compatible with
hearing aids, providing flashing lights to supplement telephone
rings or installing telecommunications devices (TDD's or TTY's).
For blind participants or employees, this may include providing
tape recorders or dictating machines for those who cannot type. For
wheelchair-users, this may include raising on blocks a desk that is
otherwise too low for the employee, rather than purchasing a
specially-made desk. A recipient is not obligated to acquire or
modify equipment that enables a participant or employee to perform
a particular job or participate in a particular program until after
an employee with a need for these modifications is hired for a
particular office or admitted to a program.
(f) Provide readers, interpreters, and similar assistance as
needed for deaf, blind and other handicapped participants or
employees. In most instances, this would not require a full-time
assistant.
(g) Decrease reliance solely on one form of communication. For
example, for deaf participants or employees this may include
supplementing program or job orientation sessions with written
manuals and other visual materials. If appropriate, a visual
warning system should be installed. It may also include providing
flashing lights to supplement auditory signals such as sirens and
alarm bells. For blind employees, this may include making some
communications available in braille, enlarged print, or on cassette
recordings. A recipient should tailor the accommodations listed
above to the needs of the individual participants or employees who
have been admitted to a particular program or hired for a
particular office.
(h) Provide human relations-sensitivity training on issues
pertaining to handicapped discrimination to all recipient
employees.
(i) Conduct ongoing training and planning sessions with
recipient supervisors, managers, personnel, technical experts and
disability rights advocates to implement and evaluate methods of
reasonable accommodation.
Accommodations for Applicants
(a) Announce program and job vacancies in a form readily
understandable by mentally handicapped persons and by persons with
impaired vision or hearing, for example, by making the
announcements available in braille or on cassette tapes. § 32.4(e)
of DOL's proposed section 504 regulations requires recipients to
insure that communications with applicants are available to persons
with impaired vision or hearing. Recipients shall undertake to
explain, as appropriate, program and job announcements to mentally
handicapped participants or employees or applicants. For example,
this might entail notifying known mentally handicapped participants
or employees of openings for positions that they might be able to
perform and taking specific steps to clearly explain the nature of
the program or job and its benefits to that individual.
Handicapped Persons
(b) Provide readers, interpreters, and other similar assistance
during the application, testing, and interview process.
(c) Appropriately adjust or modify examinations so that the test
results accurately reflect the applicant's skills, aptitude or
whatever other factor the test purports to measure, rather than
reflecting the applicant's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking
skills (except where those skills are the factors that the test
purports to measure). This may require the extension of traditional
time deadlines or allowing, for example, a blind person to answer
an examination orally.
(d) If necessary waive traditional tests and permit the
applicant to demonstrate his or her skills through alternate
techniques and utilization of adapted tools, aids, and devices.