Assistive Technology
at Work in Arizona 2007

Introduction and General Information 

Rehabilitation Services Administration

Tools of the Trade

What is Assistive Technology?

“For most people, technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible.”

Mary Pat Rorabaugh

“Disability” per ADA regulations is defined as:

a) A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual

b) A record of such an impairment

c) Being regarded as having such an impairment

“Assistive Technology Device” is defined as “any item, piece of equipment, or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.”

“Assistive Technology Service” means any service that directly assists an individual with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device.

Types of Assistive Technology

There are many categories of Assistive Technology and numerous types of devices within each category. Some types of devices are provided and supported through medical plans, some are purchased through special State or Federal programs and some items must be purchased by the consumer, employer or other entity. Sample categories are:

A 10 Step Road to Accommodation

1. Learn about the person and their disability

2. Identify the Need/s

3. Identify Specialists and Support Persons to be involved

4. Conduct a Skill Evaluation and Worksite Assessment

5. Provide Interim Accommodations

6. Identify Funding

7. Purchase Equipment

8. Install, configure and customize equipment

9. Provide Training

10. Provide Follow-up and Follow-Along Services

Assistive Technology at the Jobsite

At the Computer…

At The Computer: Computers may be modified to accommodate many types of disabilities. Persons who are blind or visually impaired may use screen magnification software, alternative display settings, speech output or a refreshable Braille display (which can completely take the place of the monitor). Persons who are unable to type due to physical limitations may use alternative keyboards, alternative mice or speech recognition. Arizona has at least 10 assistive technology labs in centers throughout the state that specialize in accommodation options for the computer.

On the Phone…

On The Phone: Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing may require special modifications to their telephone or alternative phones such as the TTY (text typing phone). The user of a TTY may communicate directly with another user of a TTY by typing messages back and forth, or may use the Arizona Relay Service to facilitate communication between a voice phone and a TTY. For persons who are hard of hearing, telephones are available that amplify and/or enhance sounds, use a visual display for ringing, and if needed, can have large buttons for physical access.

Filling out Forms…

Filling out Forms: Access to paper materials and forms can be a problem for persons with visual issues or physical motor limitations. Some persons with visual impairment may be able to use a device called a CCTV, which magnifies text from a paper form onto a video monitor along with what the person is actually writing. An alternative accommodation would be to create electronic forms that can be filled out on the computer. If correctly done, electron IC forms may be used by persons who are blind, persons with physical limitations or persons who require alternative colors.

Participating in

Meetings…

Participating in Meetings: Participation in meetings can be challenging for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Sign language interpreters, CAN (Computer Aided Note taking) specialists or CART (Computer Aided Real Time Translation) specialists may be hired to interpret what is said for meeting participants who are deaf. FM or infrared amplification equipment, sometimes used along with the individual's own personal amplifier and/or hearing aids, can accommodate persons who are hard of hearing. Adequate lighting and direct line of sight are important issues.

Thoughts and Comments…

“… accessibility must be well thought out and professionally managed to be successful” ken

“… alternative strategies can be as important as adaptive equipment” mike

“… assistive technology can make the difference in competitive employment” denise  

A 10 Step Road to Accommodation

1. Learn about the person and their disability

Acquiring a Disability that Impacts Your Job

Humans tend to go through stages of adjustment for any type of change, whether the change is simply job tasks due to the changing nature of some jobs, or a change in the ability of the employee to perform job tasks due to the onset of a disability. In many cases, acknowledging the problem is a difficult part of adjusting to and eventually accommodating the disability. For some disabilities, co-workers and family members will be the first to notice (such as gradual hearing loss), in other cases the individual may be struggling with how to manage changes in their abilities (such as progressive vision loss or changing physical motor conditions) and yet in other cases, the acquisition of the disability may be global and instant (such as an employee returning to work after catastrophic injury). In any case, the more open the employee, the employer, and the circle of workers around that person are to the possibility of seeing that person successfully completing tasks in new and different ways, the more likely accommodations will be found.

For the persons themselves, information about how to manage their newly acquired or newly developing disability may seem fragmented or absent. It is common for doctors to know the medical aspects of the disability and not know how to appropriately refer for functional living training or assistive technology supports. There are best practice models for the delivery of assistive technology services that only a small number of assistive technology specialists are actually aware of. For this reason, identifying pieces of the accommodation puzzle often becomes more of an ongoing quest than the simple provision of adaptive equipment.

Hiring persons with disabilities

Hiring a person with an existing disability is slightly different than accommodating a disability acquired by an existing employee. Many persons who have managed their disability for a long time will already know which accommodations they require to perform the job. Some individuals may be clients of Vocational Rehabilitation Services who can help to provide necessary training and support services to help the person become successful on the job. For the most part, the employer should be able to expect that the person’s own adjustment to their disability has already be addressed when hiring a person with an existing disability.

Resources

There are many excellent Internet and other resources to learn about the functional limitations and implications of specific disabilities. It is helpful for the employer to understand the disability as much as possible to then understand recommended accommodations. It may be helpful to do a search on the person’s actual diagnosis. Primary resources are as follows:

2. Identify Need/s

What type of specific tasks do you plan to have your employee do?? How are these tasks typically performed?? What types of technology are being used in the workplace that may be readily customized for the employee?? What problems is the person currently experiencing on the job?? A thorough listing of tasks and barriers is imperative to the accommodation process.

3. Identify Specialists and Support Persons to be involved

The Team Approach The best way to pursue accommodation at a job is to take a team approach. Keep communicating!! The basic members of the accommodation team are the employee, the supervisor, the Assistive Technology (AT) specialist/s, the office Technology Specialist, but the team may also include a job coach, job developer, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, or other specialists specific to the person’s disability. In some cases, key persons who impact the success of that employee are not aware that they are part of a team, so communication is essential! The roles of primary team members are as follows:

The Employee : As an expert member of the team, your employee knows details of their own disability, how they manage their disability, and how it impacts job performance. They may not know the latest technology to support them in their job or how existing technology might be adapted for use in the workplace. It is not unusual for persons with disabilities to be problem solvers by nature, which is a critical component of the accommodation process.

AT Specialists : There may be numerous AT Specialists serving the employee at the worksite. Many disabilities have a medical aspect and a functional aspect so different teams of specialists may be involved. In most cases the medical aspects need to be addressed to a stable level before other accommodations can be applied. As an example, a person who is legally blind should have a low vision evaluation done by a physician who is a low vision specialist before a computer evaluation is done by the AT Specialist. This is because prescriptive lenses and magnification devices may significantly impact other technology the person will require.

IT Specialists: The Assistive Technology Specialists referenced above, will need to work closely with the local IT or MIS specialist at the employee’s worksite. Adapted computer access is only possible when the adaptive software or hardware correctly works with actual software and hardware required to do the job. Mainframe access is particularly tricky to achieve for adapted systems. It is extremely important that the local LAN, WAN or network administrator be an active participant in the evaluation and the accommodation process. It is not unusual for adaptive software to conflict with specific versions of standard productivity software. The AT specialist and IT specialist can best solve such problems together.

4. Conduct a Skill Evaluation and a Worksite Assessment

Successful accommodations are generally outcomes of addressing the following specific areas in the worksite assessment: 1. accurate evaluation of the skills of the employee 2. accurate identification of tasks, communication flow, equipment used, and expectations at the workplace 3. accurate assessment of the environment, depending on the specific disability of the employee 4. skilled assistive technology specialists along with the team members identified above, working together to address specific barriers 5. a willingness on the part of the employee to learn and do things differently than co-workers and differently than they may have done in the past, and finally, 6. support from superiors.

5. Provide Interim Accommodations

There are many things that can and should be done while waiting for accommodations to be implemented. This may include borrowing or renting equipment such as adjustable height tables for persons with precise desk height needs or renting or borrowing a CCTV to magnify forms for someone with a visual impairment. The employee with their supervisor and other members of the team should brainstorm appropriate interim accommodations.

6. Identify Funding

ADA /the employer : the employer, under ADA, may be required to purchase accommodation/s for an employee. There are tax incentives and other supports available for employers requiring such supports for employees.

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR): 1. can consult on Assistive Technology (AT) for employees who are VR clients; 2. can purchase AT for employees if a) they are also VR clients and b) the AT is for the personal use of the employee and is portable (can be used for client’s next job) or 3. VR can modify workstations under terms of an MOU if the employer intends to use the workstation to provide employment for other VR clients if/when the current employee leaves

Private Grants : some companies can petition private funding sources to assist with the costs of accommodations.

Consumer Grants: some benevolent organizations offer possibilities for funding assistive technology for consumers. Generally economic need is a requirement.

Medical plan : medical plans including AHCCCS and Medicaid should purchase items required for medical necessity such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, mobility aids, augmentative communication devices, eyeglasses (under some plans), prosthetics (artificial arms or legs), orthotics (walkers, braces) and other medically needed devices.

Tax deductions : some equipment purchases qualify as tax deductions for the individual.

Low Interest loan projects : In Arizona, call AzTAP for status of this project 602-728-9534

7. Purchase Equipment

Once the Workstation Evaluation is completed and recommendations are made, equipment purchases can be pursued. Most often a selection of recommended vendors is provided with the Workstation Evaluation report. Sometimes other issues need to be considered:

Accuracy in making the purchase: when making an assistive technology purchase, even for more “ordinary” appearing items such as pens or ergonomic chairs, it is important to transcribe exactly what was recommended by the assistive technology evaluator down to the version number of software products, make or model of the adaptive device, and table height range of furniture. This will minimize equipment conflicts when installation takes place. The employee needs that specification for a reason and will often not have their needs met with approximations.

Procurement Issues: government and large companies frequently use procurement contracts to purchase items such as computers, furniture, and other large investments. Assistive technology software and hardware can be purchased from manufacturers and added to a computer system OR they may be purchased as part of a “Turnkey System” which includes a compatible computer and whatever assistive technology supports are recommended. In either case, it is imperative to make the purchase based on precise specifications from the Workstation Evaluation.

Cost : Remember that the accommodation that works is the wisest investment.

8. Install, Configure and Customize equipment

Local AT Specialists : no matter what the size of your company or agency technology department, it is recommended that the local assistive technology specialist be hired to complete software installation or furniture fitting together with the in-house staff. In the case of adaptive software there are many custom settings that the assistive technology products require for them to work properly. In the case of screenreading software for the blind and speech input products for persons with physical limitations, custom scripts might need to be created to allow the employee to be efficient on the job.

Cautions about calling it done! Most people want the installation and configuration process to be a one-visit event. This is often not the case. The employee along with in-house technology staff and consultant AT staff should bring their calendars to the installation to schedule a joint follow-up visit.

9. Provide Training

If an employee has not used adaptive software, they will need to learn to use at least 3 products in very different ways than their co-workers. These products are: the operating system (i.e Windows), the application software used for the job (i.e. word processor or mainframe program) and finally, the adaptive software for their disability (i.e. screenreading software for persons who are blind, screen magnification software for persons who are visually impaired or voice recognition software for persons with physical access limitations or other). Appropriate training is often the piece that makes the accommodation work. This training needs to be provided by a local assistive technology specialist who knows product being used and the disability implications of the employee. Typical rates for assistive technology training are $36 per hour. Often a base of 20 hours of training is recommended.

10. Provide Follow-up / Follow-along

Just Do It After accommodations have been implemented, it is advisable to document the custom configurations at the workstation and follow-up on installations, training, and overall use of equipment. This will save substantial time and funding in case of equipment failures. The end user, along with the AT Team, will in the course of training, come up with additional strategies or ideas that could help to make their work more effective and productive.

Big Implications for seemingly small changes If, after the assistive technology services are completed, work needs to be done at that workstation, additional assistive technology follow-up may be required. For example, computer upgrades or software additions can create new conflicts with the adaptive products if the office technology person is unaware of settings and work that was done by previous AT staff. The employee will often only know that their system does not work. Many products for the blind and vision impaired are sensitive to screen resolution settings, view settings, display settings and shortcut key conflicts with application programs. Voice recognition products are sensitive to the sound environment of the office, sound card changes and microphone stability. Contact the local AT provider when problems occur.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES

 For additional information about this publication contact:

State of Arizona

Department of Economic Security

Rehabilitation Services Administration

1789 West Jefferson 930A

Phoenix , Arizona 85007

Phone: 602-542-3332

TTY: 602-542-6049

www.de.state.az.us/rsa

For alternative format contact the number above.