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Customized employment involves negotiating work
opportunities that capitalize on the strengths and abilities of the
individual with a disability and benefits the employer. Sometimes
a person with a disability will be able to perform a position with
an accommodation or a change to the original job design. In the business
community, this is referred to as job restructuring and is an example
of a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA). In order to be eligible for reasonable accommodation under
the ADA, the applicant or employee must be a qualified individual
with a disability.
A qualified individual with a disability is an applicant or employee
who meets all the employer’s requirements for the job. The person
must be able to perform the job-related requirements of the position,
such as education level, employment history, experience, skills, licenses,
and other job-related requirements (e.g., good analytical skills,
excellent oral and written communication). Furthermore, to be qualified,
the person must be able to perform the essential functions of the
job with or without reasonable accommodation. Thus, employers cannot
screen out qualified individuals with disabilities, because an individual
has a disability.
Under the ADA, job restructuring may be an appropriate accommodation
when a qualified individual with a disability is able to perform
the
essential or major job functions but is not able to perform marginal
or nonessential job duties. For example, Susan is a young woman
with
multiple sclerosis who applies for a position as a front desk receptionist
at a financial institution. The major job duties or the essential
functions for the position include answering the telephone, greeting
guests, and ordering office supplies. The marginal or nonessential
duties involve incidental typing, dropping off and picking up mail
at the post office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and filing incoming
faxes in staff mail boxes. To be qualified, Susan must be able to
perform the essential job duties with or without accommodation.
However,
if she could not perform one or more of the marginal or nonessential
duties, she may request that the job be restructured. Restructuring
could entail having certain marginal or nonessential tasks, like
the incidental typing or fax filing reassigned to another employee,
in
exchange for a task that she could perform.
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