It's National Disability Employment Awareness Month!

October is National
Disability Employment Awareness Month and there are a number of events going on in Pennsylvania to commemorate the month and to raise awareness for
disabilities.

From October 4-6, the Pennsylvania Department of Public
Welfare and the Arc of Luzerne County held the PA Disability Employment
Summit. This event was held in Hershey and focused on issues affecting
employment for the disabled, featuring case studies and advancement in adaptive
technologies.

Adaptive technologies are crucial to a healthy workplace
that accommodates disabilities.

Unfortunately, disability discrimination is a serious issue in the
context of employment law. Essentially, employers might feel that a disability
could hamper an employee’s performance of a job task. As such, an employer could
easily discriminate against a disabled employee or job applicant, without even
realizing it.

Disability discrimination can occur at may phases in the
employment process– at the hiring phase, when promoting or demoting an
employee, at the termination phase, or even as early as the application
phase.

Congress decided to take action against disability
discrimination. That’s why it passed the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA).

Under the ADA, most businesses and places open to the
public must make “reasonable accommodations” for several types of
disabilities.

That’s where technology comes in. Technology is vital to
the concept of reasonable accommodation. For example, a blind employee might
need the help of a screen reader or text-to-speech software.

Other assistive devices include adaptive keyboards,
adjustable seating, and reading aid software.

As we mentioned earlier, it’s not uncommon for employers
to be unaware of these devices, or unaware of the fact that they are engaged in
disability discrimination.

That’s why Disability Awareness Month is so important.
Without awareness, there can be no advancement.

Related Resources:

• Philadelphia
  Employment Lawyers (FindLaw)
• EEOC:
  Top Five Employment Claims Sued Over in Pennsylvania (FindLaw’s Philadelphia
  Employment News)
• The Americans With Disabilities Act (FindLaw)