The Americans With Disabilities Act was signed into effect on July 26, 1990. This Act was supposed to bring equality and opportunity for individuals with a disability. Instead in many ways, it created many more hoops, procedures, and policies to jump through to gain employment as an individual with a disability (Mayerson, 2020). A reasonable accommodation is something we have all likely heard at some point, and it refers to any change made in the application or hiring process, a job itself, or the way it is done and/or the work environment that allows someone with a disability who is qualified to perform essential functions of that job. Accommodations are acceptable to be made if they are “reasonable” and do not create undue hardship or a threat (ADA National Network, 2018).
Many employers have found themselves unwilling to consider working from home or telework as a reasonable accommodation. It is also well known that employers will create a fake or unrelated reason to terminate an employee who is requesting an accommodation, it has also been shown that some employers will put employees on a personal improvement plan with unattainable goals that they would not expect from a non-disabled employee (Campoamor, 2020).
In February and March of 2020 individuals with disabilities who have long had to be strong advocates for themselves and their employment accommodation needs found themselves in shock and awe as the United States almost overnight made the shift from in-office work to working at home in every possible instance where it could be done. While it is exciting and incredibly helpful for those who benefit from this change, it is also infuriating to the individuals with disabilities who have been fighting for the right to work from home for years (Campoamor, 2020).
The anger and fury that the disabled community is feeling in the wake of coronavirus aren’t unwarranted. Being passed over as an applicant, denied employment opportunities, release from employment, and forced to remain stagnant without promotion opportunity all because of a disability, something that legally cannot be discriminated against, but still is. The battles and wars that individuals with disabilities have been fighting with companies and organizations for years all manifested in feelings of disappointment and betrayal when those same companies and organizations switched over to work from home and telework during COVID19(Campoamor, 2020).
All that the members of the disability community can hope for is that when Coronavirus is no longer a threat to society, the work from home accommodations put in place will still be accessible to those who need it and have fought for it most. The disability community.
Sources:
ADA National Network. (2018). Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace. https://adata.org/factsheet/reasonable-accommodations-workplace
Campoamor, D. (2020, March 23). Disabled People React to Coronavirus Work From Home Accommodations. Teen Vogue. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/disabled-people-react-to-coronavirus-work-from-home-accommodations
Mayerson, A. B. (2020, July 25). The History of ADA. Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. https://dredf.org/about-us/publications/the-history-of-the-ada/
The impact that COVID-19 has done, resulted in an economic shock. The pandemic had an enormous impact on everyone, especially people with mental health and disabilities. People with disabilities and mental health have been fighting years for equality in the work force. And now that the pandemic has changed our lives, it has also changed the work force. Many jobs have allowed employees to work remotely. This is something that people with disabilities have been fighting for centuries. Persons with disabilities associated with mental health had particularly high levels of unemployment. Although there are laws and regulations that allows people with disability to work, they get discriminated in the workforce. The pandemic in this aspect resulted in a positive matter for people with disability because there are more remote jobs being offered. There are actually a lot of jobs that resulted being done at home. Therefore, in the future will this case still be the same? We are not sure what the future holds. The pandemic changed our lives and there are many advantages and disadvantages. I personally believe if the remote jobs could still stay the same, this provides people with disabilities an opportunity too grow and be able to have work without being discriminated.
References
McAlpine, D. D., & Alang, S. M. (2020). Employment and economic outcomes of persons with mental illness and disability: The impact of the great recession in the united states. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1037/prj000045