I gave a presentation on how to deal with Disabilities in the Workplace. This is the powerpoint supplement.

1. Disabilities in the Workplace Making Your Company Disability-Friendly Sophie Alkhowaiter February 23, 2010

3. Disabled Workers include:

4. People who have always been disabled that have used reasonable accommodations in previous jobs.

5. People who have recently become disabled and have resumes resembling that of nondisabled workers.

6. They would rather work then live off government subsidies.

8. Do people with physical disabilities regularly apply to your company?

10. Making the decision to change and staying committed to those changes will be the hardest part.

12. 2. Create a favorable image

13. 3. Update job descriptions

14. 4. Be sure your staff is familiar with the rules

16. Can contain information about the disabilities as well as information about the accommodations needed.

17. Size of “library” and type of information can depend on the company.

18. A great place to start is by contacting organizations such as:

19. The Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center

21. Ideas to help shape a favorable image:

22. 1. Send letters to organizations for the disabled

23. 2. Include pictures of disabled workers in your media

24. 3. Write a nondiscrimination policy relating to disabled employees

25. 4. Make a brochure with this policy and the benefits for disabled employees

26. 5. Send job announcements to college disability offices

28. Not updating your job descriptions could leave out disabled workers from the get go.

30. Only three circumstances allow employers to start a conversation about reasonable accommodations at the pre-offer stage of the recruitment process

31. Employer reasonably believes the applicant will need accommodation because of an obvious disability.

32. Employer reasonably believes that the applicant will need accommodation because of a hidden disability that the applicant has voluntarily disclosed.

34. Invest in your disabled employees by using new accommodations that help make increase productivity.

35. Reasonable accommodations are not necessarily expensive.

37. Decide that changes need to be made

38. Make a plan of action

39. Commit to the plan

40. Succeed in making your company disability-friendly