How Reasonable are Reasonable Accommodations at Work
How Reasonable are Reasonable Accommodations at Work
It is not the same being given enough time to finish an exam, in a setting that is conducive to focusing on answering the exam
Article Link: https://www.psychologytoday.
In education and in the workplace, appropriate accommodations are crucial for people to learn and to perform at their best. This article tackles the "reasonable" piece of the ADA rule. Who decides what "reasonable" is?
Even when accommodations are nominally given, the quality of the accommodation can vary immensely. It is not the same being given enough time to finish an exam, in a setting that is conducive to focusing on answering the exam, than having "1.5x" the time in a room with noisy people, in the middle of a lab, or in the professor's office, under the professor's gaze.
The article was written by Hari Srinivasan, who is a fellow member of the College Autism Network
New article In Psychology Today
Another brilliant article Hari. I am sharing it widely too. The students in our autism certificate programs always love your pieces and refer back to them frequently in their reflections.
How Reasonable are Reasonable Accommodations at Work
Reasonability has been proven for remote access
I was denied this as a requested accommodation with the excuse that a remote option was unreasonably difficult despite the course being offered remotely during COVID. If this denial had not occurred I would have earned my bachelors degree back in May. Instead I am wasting time trying to find a way to finish elsewhere without major setbacks and unnecessary cost.
Thank you Hari Srinivasan for the work you’re doing in this area!
Requesting Accommodations
We can and should find ways to accommodate
I think that we can, and should find ways to accommodate
Autistics at work.
Online is a critical disability accommodation for education access
The article below highlights how online and hybrid options are a critical but overlooked disability accommodation that makes education accessible to many in the autistic/disability populations.
https://www.onlinecollegeplan.com/can-someone-with-nonverbal-autism-attend-online-college/
"Communicating their needs is something that almost everyone with ASD struggles with so for someone who doesn’t communicate in a typical way, those struggles can be exacerbated, especially in school. "
"Colleges and universities across the country offer online programs and more and more of them are implementing support programs to help autistic students transition into college life more smoothly and to excel. These two things can come together and absolutely transform the future for students that can’t speak. The minimized interaction in a self-paced distance-learning degree program allows the student to focus on the things that they can do instead of having to consistently confront the things they can’t as they try to navigate their coursework. The support programs in place at many colleges are there for all students whether they are learning on campus or online and they can help to provide proper resources to students that need them, to help them stay motivated and organized, and to be there for the times that college gets to be a bit overwhelming. A nonverbal autistic student would be able to get the full college experience regardless of what method they chose to complete their degree, but it seems that online college would help reduce the stress of going to college and make communication between advisors, professors, and classmates a lot simpler."