You may need to negotiate with your prospective or current employer about making some changes to accommodate your disability. These changes, called ‘reasonable adjustments’ or ‘work-related adjustments’, may be required for your job interview (eg. interview questions to be provided in an alternative format, an accessible room or via a sign language interpreter), and/or once you are in the job. Workplace adjustments generally fall into two categories:
- physical modifications (such as building ramps, purchasing software)
- adjusting work practices (working from home, taking more frequent breaks, etc.).
Whether you have a disability or not, negotiation is a vital life skill, think of this as an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to communicate to the employer while refining your skills.
Examples of Workplace Adjustments
- Later starting/finishing times for an employee, whose medication causes drowsiness or lack of coordination in the morning which means they cannot drive and find it hard to concentrate. Team meetings can be scheduled for later in the day so all employees may attend.
- Telecommuting, or working from home: your work phone can be redirected to home. Answer in a professional manner during work hours. Ask to be included in staff meetings via teleconferencing. Ask for access to the staff intranet at home. Schedule regular phone or email contact with your supervisor so you stay ‘in the loop’.
- Adapting interview procedures (eg. making the interview questions available in different formats: plain English; electronic; large print).
- Adapting the work environment (eg. making the work areas and facilities accessible to a worker in a wheelchair).
- Changes to job design, work schedules or other work practices (eg. allowing a hearing impaired worker to swap telephone duties with another employee and complete filing duties instead).
- Changes to equipment (eg. installing visual fire alarms for deaf workers).
- Providing training or other help (eg. extending training time for workers with a learning or intellectual disability, ensuring adequate support during training and induction).
- Changing communication systems or information provided (eg. having information available in written form and not just spoken at meetings).
Who Pays for Workplace Adjustments?
The Employment Assistance Fund will pay for the costs involved in modifying the workplace or purchasing adaptive equipment for eligible employees with disability up to the cost of $10,000.