I'm not screaming, Carol. I was just a little non-plussed. I had no clue what the "reasonable accommodations" meant in that context -- and of course I answered yes, to the question. Julie Krueger ========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: amazing employment application questions Date: 6/5/06 9:11:08 P.M. Central Daylight Time From: _carolkir@xxxxxxxxx (mailto:carolkir@xxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: >So they're asking me if I am able to perform the clerical duties if the building does not have wheelchair access? ck: Not exactly. They're *asking* whether you are able to perform the clerical duties, period. The app is about you, not the building or the employer's willingness to provide accommodations. FYI, if the building is federal or state (receiving fed funds), it must have wheelchair access or it's in violation of ADA. Now, THOSE suits have been won, reliably, by potential employees. Physical accessibility is one of the easiest kinds. Employers love to hire people in wheelchairs, and to put them prominently, right up front, where every visitor can see. (Same thing happened right after the Civil Rights Act passed. The ADA is modeled directly after the Civil Rights Act, which inspired it.) About positioning people in wheelchairs so they're extremely visible, I regret to remember a pamphlet I edited in 1991, written by lawyers for the banking profession, which advised prominent placement of employees who use wheelchairs. Stop screaming, Julie. Carol ----- Original Message ----- From: _JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxxx (mailto:JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 6:52 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: amazing employment application questions So, let's say I'm paralyzed from the waist down in a wheelchair, but my clerical skills are outstanding (if I do say so myself). So they're asking me if I am able to perform the clerical duties if the building does not have wheelchair access? Julie Krueger ========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: amazing employment application questions Date: 6/5/06 8:49:14 P.M. Central Daylight Time From: _rpaul@xxxxxxxxx (mailto:rpaul@xxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx wrote: > I of course answered "yes". But the "w/ or w/out reasonable > accommodations" has so many variables, is so nebulous, as to be > astonishing. What are "reasonable accomodations"? Bathroom breaks? > Typewriters that work? Chairs? 'Reasonable accomodations' is a term of art in the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. It means about what you'd think it means, and is explicable pretty much in terms of what you'd need given your disablity, whatever it is, over and above the standard equipment and access that non-disabled persons have. (Don't ask me to define 'standard.') See, e.g. http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Disability_law Robert Paul Reed College ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html