If you live with a disability, it can be frustrating to find things in your workplace that make it harder for you to do a job than for someone without your disability. For example, you know you could make valuable contributions to a meeting if only you could hear what the others were saying more clearly or if you could see a PowerPoint or video presentation. Or you know you would be great at helping colleagues with their technical issues if only the building were easier for you to navigate in your wheelchair.
If this is your situation, then you will be pleased to hear there are laws in place at various levels to help you. For example, under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and comparable state and Washington D.C. laws, you have the right to ask an employer for reasonable accommodations. Most public employers and most private employers are bound by these laws. Some private employers with only a few employees will only be covered under state and local laws, as the federal disability law only applies to employers with 15 or more employees.
Note that your disability must be a qualifying one, and you must be otherwise qualified to do the job.
Is your request reasonable?
Employers are not obligated to say yes to every request for reasonable accommodations. They have the right to contest whether an accommodation is reasonable. The law would not expect them to do something that caused them undue hardship.
If, for example, they can show the suggested accommodation is too expensive, extensive or disruptive, then a court is unlikely to force them to make that accommodation. The same can happen if the employer feels there are safety reasons to reject a particular request.
An employer saying no to a particular accommodation should not be the end of the story. Rather, it should be the beginning of negotiations. Maybe there is a different way to give you the assistance you need that is less burdensome on the employer or that would not cause a safety issue. The employer must engage in an interactive process with the employee.
Learning more about all relevant laws, whether at local, state, or federal level, can help if you are struggling to have your employer provide the reasonable accommodations you need to do your job.