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Welcome to our "Accommodations at Work" Series, where we explore both the employer and employee's perspective of the accommodation process. In this article, we'll discuss what information employees will want to have before making an accommodation request.
Accommodation – an intimidating word in the workplace, right? For employees, it can imply an uncomfortable series of events: getting the legal and/or HR departments involved, calling attention to supposed shortcomings, or having to advocate for oneself. For employers, it might mean an involved and complicated legal process that feels intimidating, and potential costs that weren’t factored into the budget. But accommodations, especially in the workplace, are crucial to an individual’s productivity, job satisfaction, and overall success in their role – and they’re considerations we can’t do without.
For neurodivergent individuals (disabled individuals in general) and their employers, the accommodations process is an important one. It allows for neurodivergent individuals to raise their hand and advocate for their needs without fear of retribution or termination. But that doesn’t mean that fear or stigma doesn’t get in the way of a truly interactive process, limiting the care that an individual needs.
If you’re a neurodivergent individual, and you’re looking to request an accommodation, here are some ways to help prepare your request so that you can advocate for yourself with confidence.
Step 1: Know Your Accommodation Rights
Simply defined by the Department of Labor, an accommodation is “an adjustment to a job or work environment that makes it possible for an individual with a disability to perform their job duties.” It’s a right protected under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects individuals with disabilities from employment discrimination.
According to the ADA, employers with 15 or more employees are required to provide “reasonable accommodations” for employees and job seekers with disabilities, unless the accommodation would create an “undue hardship” or “too much difficulty or expense to implement.”
So what does this mean? We consulted Brooke Poling, Esq., SHRM-CP of Optimal Employee Relations for further insight.
“Upon receiving an accommodation request, employers are required to engage in the interactive process on a ‘good faith’ basis,” says Poling. “The interactive process is a dialogue (verbal or written) between employer and employee about potential reasonable accommodations.”
A reasonable accommodation can look like a few things. It could be:
Providing a stool for a worker who is unable to stand for long periods of time.
Noise-cancelling headphones or stimming tools for a neurodivergent person.
A chair cushion for someone recovering from back surgery.
As you begin the accommodation process, Poling recommends that employees check if their employer has a set policy or procedure for requesting an accommodation. If so, employees should follow that procedure to the best of their ability.
Step 2: Understand Your Needs at Work
It’s important to understand the challenges that you’re facing in the workplace – after all, you can’t request an accommodation if you’re not sure what to accommodate.
Assess moments of frustration, challenges, or blockades that you run into throughout the day. For example, do you:
Find that you’re overwhelmed during peak times of movement and activity in the office?
Struggle to remember verbal instructions when they’re delivered to you?
Face challenges when it’s time to switch between tasks?
Feel overwhelmed when starting tasks or large projects and don’t know where to start?
Understanding your emotional and physical reactions to stimuli and tasks at the office can help you first understand where your challenges may lie.
Next, brainstorm solutions to those challenges. Consider starting with your perfect world, and working backwards. For example:
Overwhelmed by the sounds and activity in the office? While your perfect world might be a quiet office that has limited to no activity, that’s not possible. But noise-cancelling headphones would help eliminate some of the audio stimuli that you experience during those moments of peak activity.
Struggling to remember verbal instructions? Your perfect world might mean that everyone communicates in written form, but in the case that they don’t, it might mean that your manager follows up with an email summarizing their request.
Facing challenges when it’s time to switch between tasks? In a perfect world, we might automatically know which task is next, but for now, it may be as simple as allowing short breaks between tasks in order to decompress and refocus.
Feeling overwhelmed by starting a task or a large project? Our perfect world might simply eliminate that feeling, but since we can’t do that, we can break projects or tasks out by priority with our manager to understand what they need the most.
Every individual’s needs and challenges are different, but if you need help getting started, consider checking out the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) or other accommodation sites to research what has worked for others in similar situations.
Next step? Preparing your request. Keep your eyes peeled for Part 2 of our "Accommodations at Work" Series, where we'll we dive into preparing, presenting, and following-up on your accommodation request.
Special thanks to Brooke Poling, Esq., SHRM-CP of Optimal Employee Relations for her contributions to this article.
Need help framing your accommodation request? Not sure where to start? Beyond Neurodiversity can help! Our individual coaching services can help you understand your needs, advocate for yourself, and prepare your accommodation request so you can feel confident asking for the support you need. Contact us today to learn more.
The information contained herein is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice.