Resources

People With and Without Disabilities: Interacting & Communicating

"People With and Without Disabilities: Interacting and Communicating" was prepared by the Equal Opportunity Programs Office, Code 120, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. This document was created to diminish attitudinal and communication barriers that are less obvious than physical barriers, but just as critical to ensure success for employees with disabilities.

Reasonable and Creative Accommodations

Accommodations for workers with disabilities are, generally speaking, easy to implement and can be made with a minimal financial obligation for the employer. Accommodations will help ensure that all workers can perform the requirements of the job to the best of their ability.

Here are some reasonable and creative accommodations that an employer may encounter when hiring workers with disabilities.

Attitudinal Barriers

People with disabilities may encounter many different forms of attitudinal barriers. This section examines some of the most common attitudinal barriers people may face from co-workers, and explores ways in which people with disabilities can combat these obstacles.

This Attitudinal Barriers document was reprinted with permission from the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor.

Communicating with People With Disabilities

Communicating with people with disabilities should be based on respect and courtesy. This sections offers tips for effectively communicating with people with disabilities. This is reprinted with permission from the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor.

10 Mistakes

This 13-minute video from the U.S. Department of Justice identifies common mistakes that small businesses make when trying to comply with the ADA and addresses the importance and value of doing business with 50 million people with disabilities. The video features statements by store owners expressing their doubts or misunderstandings about the ADA followed by responses from the Assistant Attorney for Civil Rights and other Department of Justice employees explaining the law in common sense terms.

LINK: 10 Mistakes

Developing an Affirmative Action Plan

This 10-step guide was put together to help businesses develop a working affirmative action plan. This document is used with permission from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Department of Justice

To meet the goals of the ADA, the law established requirements for businesses of all sizes. These requirements went into effect on January 26, 1992.

For more information about the ADA, and to discover what is required from your business, please the Department of Justice.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act in an attempt to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities.

This section provides the basic information about the ADA.

Disability: Dispelling Myths

The Disability: Dispelling Myths publication provides information on successful strategies used by business leaders to meet their labor force needs. It also includes practical examples and approaches to tap into this large pool of skilled laborers. The Center for Workforce Preparation, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, publishes this guidebook.

Disability Employment 101

Employers can deal with workforce shortages by tapping into non-traditional sources of labor, such as people with disabilities. The Disability Employment 101 publication is prepared for business leaders who want to find qualified workers, cultivate the next generation of qualified workers, learn valuable lessons from other successful businesses and how to put research into practice to meet their labor needs. This publication was put together by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Workforce Preparation.

Realities of Hiring People with Disabilities

Realities of Hiring People with Disabilities is a comprehensive guide from the Maryland Department of Labor that explains the benefits of hiring people with disabilities.

Strategies to Help Businesses Keep Employees

This project from Goodwill, funded by a grant from the Hitachi Foundation, explored the underlying problems behind high employee turnover. Goodwills in three cities, together with local employers and their chambers of commerce, researched strategies and developed resources to increase employee retention. A resource produced as a result of that project, "Making Work Work: Tools for Turnover Reduction" offers proven strategies for keeping good employees on your payroll.

For a PDF version of "Making Work Work: Tools for Turnover Reduction," go to goodwill.org.

Employment Issues for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

This section deals with employment issues faced by deaf, late-deafened or hard of hearing workers, and explores accommodations that can be made to enhance communication with hard of hearing workers. This material originated from the University of Arkansas' Regional Training Center for Persons Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

LINK: Employment Issues for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing