Volume 6, Issue 1, First Quarter, 2008

The JAN E-News is a quarterly online newsletter of the Job Accommodation Network. Its purpose is to keep subscribers informed about low-cost and innovative accommodation approaches; the latest trends in assistive technologies; announcements of upcoming JAN presentations, media events, trainings, and Webcasts; and legislative and policy updates promoting the employment success of people with disabilities.

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Index

1. U.S. BLN Annual Conference – JAN track
2. February is Heart Disease Awareness Month
3. Telecommuting Options as an Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities
4. Technology to Improve Writing Skills
5. Traumatic Brain Injury Accommodations: Individual Process Essential to Solution
6. JAN Exhibit and Training Schedule
7. Contact JAN

1 -U.S. BLN Annual Conference – JAN track

Looking for information about the annual JAN Conference? 2008 brings about a change in the type of conference training JAN will offer. JAN is joining forces with the US Business Leadership Network to offer a JAN SuperTrack at the US BLN's 2008 conference in Portland, Oregon, October 5th - 8th, 2008. JAN's senior Consultants will be collaborating with the US BLN to offer a complete track of professional training on job accommodations and the ADA. Now employers can access the highest quality and most innovative disability-related employment information by attending one extraordinary training event. Conference details and information about how to register will be available on the JAN and USBLN Web sites in the near future.

2 - February is Heart Disease Awareness Month

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women. Preventing and controlling adverse risk factors of heart disease, knowing the signs and symptoms of heart attacks, and getting emergency help as soon as possible can increase one’s chances of having a positive outcome. Also, heart attack patients can work toward reducing the risk of future episodes via healthy heart knowledge.

Major controllable risk factors include high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity and obesity, as well as, stress. Uncontrollable risk factors include gender, heredity, and age. Diet is a risk factor as a long term threat. The American Heart Association (AHA) and the CDC offer online risk assessment in order for people to determine their own personal risk factors and both agencies offer information on making changes that can reduce your risk. The AHA risk assessment tool can be found at: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3003499

Heart attack warning signs can be dramatic or subtle. Chest pain or discomfort that lasts more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back is quite common. Pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain is typical of chest symptoms. Discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach are other body parts that can signal warning signs. Other signs may include shortness of breath, nausea, cold sweat, or lightheadedness.

It is important to pay attention to signs and symptoms and to call 911 within five minutes of experiencing these signs. Quick medical response is crucial.

The Heart Truth is a national awareness campaign for women about heart disease sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Many women have not taken heart disease seriously mostly due to myths about risk factors. Symptoms of heart attack for women are somewhat different than for men. Indigestion, gas-like pain, dizziness, nausea, unexplained weakness and fatigue, discomfort and pain between the shoulder blades, and recurring chest pain are typical signs for women.

For additional information, contact the following agencies:
http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/index.htm,
http://www.americanheart.org,
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth, and
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/Heart.html

Resources: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA; The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC; The American Heart Association-National Center, Dallas, TX.

- Eddie Whidden, JAN Senior Consultant on Motor Team

3 - Telecommuting Options as an Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities

In an earlier JAN E-News article, types of work options most frequently categorized under the umbrella term of telecommuting were explored. This discussion included how the telecommuting definition overlaps, and differs from, other alternative work strategies such as self-employment, independent contracting, or starting a home-based business.

This E-News article can be accessed at:
JAN E-News Volume 4, Issue 3, Third Quarter, 2006
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/enews/2006/Enews-V4-I3.htm

The confusion over these various definitions has evolved from different contexts, sometimes blurring our understanding of what is involved in these related work options. For the purpose of this article, however, the broad definition made available on the TeleworkTools.org Web site – a Telework/Telecommute Research and Demonstration Project of The WorkPlace, Inc. funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), will be used:

“Telecommuting is essentially working from home full-time or several days out of the work week. Someone who telecommutes may be an independent contractor, an entrepreneur, or an employee of an organization that has telecommuting work options.”
(Source: http://www.teleworktools.org)

Common characteristics that link these various work options include:

• Work is conducted at a location other than the traditional office or organizational setting – often from a home;
• Information and communication technologies (e.g., telephone lines, computers with Internet access, and other digital technologies) make these work options feasible;
• These approaches offer flexibility in terms of when, where, and how work is conducted; and
• These changes in how and where work is achieved reflect new employment patterns in an increasingly globalized and knowledge-based economy.

For employers and individuals with disabilities, these options can help: (1) retain valuable employees who require flexible scheduling; (2) eliminate commuting or transportation barriers; (3) promote home-based work and , contribute to a to greater work/life balance; (4) integrate customized employment approaches that increase work opportunities; and (5) promote self-employment and entrepreneurship in the establishment of home-based businesses.

Telecommuting Resources:

JAN consultants can discuss telecommuting issues in workplace accommodation situations. Many questions arise in the context of what employers are required to do under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). JAN can provide information on the ADA and ways to make accommodations in home-based work settings, including assistive technologies that can facilitate working remotely.

Additional resources:

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Work At Home/Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation
Web site: http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/telework.html

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and General Service Administration
(GSA) Interagency Telework Site
Web site: http://www.telework.gov/

Home-based Business

JAN customers receive one-on-one assistance and resources to assist with developing and growing home-based businesses, including referrals to local, state, and national resources and additional mentoring and guidance throughout each individual process.

Additional Resources:

Self-Employment Technical Assistance, Resources, & Training – START-UP USA
Web site: http://www.start-up-usa.biz/

DisabilityInfo.gov
Self-Employment and Small Business Resources
Web site: http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=38

JAN continues to be at the forefront of enhancing employment opportunities for people with disabilities, including providing strategies to enhance emerging work options such as telework and starting a home-based business.

-Kim Cordingly, Ph.D. , JAN Lead Consultant on Self -Employment

4 - Technology to Improve Writing Skills

At work, do you communicate through writing, perhaps through email, letters, or memos? Probably so, according to the National Commission on Writing, whose recent study Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or a Ticket Out: A Survey of Business Leaders reported that “two-thirds of salaried employees in large American companies have some writing responsibility” (National Commission on Writing, 2008). Do you want to improve the quality of your own writing skills or help support the improvement of staff writing skills? Again, probably so, as the National Commission on Writing (2008) also reported that “you can’t move up without writing skills.”

According to the National Institute for Literacy (2008) Facts and Statistics of Workforce Education, proficient writing ability tops the list of important work skills, and writing deficit is the number one reason why employers in manufacturing and production withhold job offers.

Writing skills can be improved with a new software program, Whitesmoke. Whitesmoke is a text enrichment writing product that helps improve writing skills, with over 600 sample writing templates and over 400,000 ways to correct errors through spell check, grammar check, automatic proofreading, dictionary, and thesaurus options.

People with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and expressive language disorders may find this product particularly useful. Going beyond the traditional word-processing edit tools, Whitesmoke can edit the user’s written work, making suggestions such as relevant adjectives and adverbs that enhance and improve the written text. Entire sentences can be analyzed for improvement and transformation.

For $79.95, this software is an inexpensive way to provide an effective job accommodation. Whitesmoke works with all contemporary applications, operating systems, browsers, and communication tools. Preview the product here: http://www.whitesmoke.com

For additional job accommodation ideas for people with various types of learning disabilities, visit: http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/lear.htm. And, for more accommodation ideas specifically about writing, try SOAR: JAN’s Searchable Online Accommodation Resource: http://www.jan.wvu.edu/soar/LD/writetext.html.

- Dr. Suzanne Gosden Kitchen, JAN’s Senior Consultant for the Cognitive and Neurological Team

References:

National Institute for Literacy. Facts and Statistics of Workforce Education. Retrieved online January 21, 2008 from
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/facts/workforce.html

National Commission on Writing. Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or a Ticket Out: A Survey of Business Leaders. Retrieved online January 21, 2008 from
http://www.writingcommission.org/pr/writing_for_employ.html

5 - Traumatic Brain Injury Accommodations: Individual Process Essential to Solution

According to the Brain Injury Association (2005), a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be caused by a hard hit or jolting impact to the head (closed head injury) or by a penetrating object, such as a bullet (open head injury). Specific statistics of interest include:

• Although not all insults to the head result in a TBI, approximately 1.4 million people experience a TBI every year;
• The majority of individuals affected by TBIs, 79%, receives medical attention and is subsequently discharged from the emergency department;
• Seventeen percent of individuals with TBIs are hospitalized for further treatment and rehabilitation, while the remaining four percent (about 50,000) do not survive;
• The most common causes of TBI include falls, motor vehicle accidents, motor vehicle/pedestrian accidents, and assaults;
• Children from birth to age four and adolescents aged 15-19 are most at risk, with males being more likely than females to sustain a TBI;
• African Americans suffer more deaths from TBI than any other group; and
• Military personnel frequently experience TBI from blast injuries inflicted by Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) (Brain Injury Association, 2005).

Depending on the severity of the injury, a TBI survivor may not have any limitations, while another may struggle with daily living. Even if two people have the same type of brain injury, their outcomes may differ based on physical health and cognitive ability prior to the injury, the quality and duration of rehabilitation services, and family support.

Specific limitations hinge on what part of the brain was damaged by the injury, and any bodily system may be impaired as a result. Some survivors may have impairments related to gross motor limitations (walking, balancing, coordination); fine motor limitations (handling, fingering); sensory limitations (seeing, hearing); bowel and bladder control; handling stress and emotions; and speech impairments. Cognitive limitations may involve difficulty with memory, problem solving, math, reading, or “executive functions,” such as planning/organizing/prioritizing/decision-making. In some cases, because the parts of the brain that process auditory and visual information were damaged in a TBI, a person may have trouble comprehending what is seen or heard despite intact vision and hearing.

Accommodations for employees with TBI depend on the nature of their limitations, what bodily systems are affected, and essential job functions. Suggestions for accommodating cognitive deficits, psychological issues, motor impairments, sensory deficits, and speech difficulties due to TBI can be accessed at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/brai.htm or by using the Searchable Online Accommodation Resource (SOAR) at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/soar/.

-Laura K. Artman, MS, CRC, JAN Graduate Research Assistant

References:

Brain Injury Association. (2005, August). Facts about traumatic brain injury. Retrieved January
17, 2008, from
http://www.biausa.org/elements/aboutbi/factsheets/factsaboutBI.8.29.05.pdf

6 - JAN Exhibit and Training Schedule

JAN on the Road provides updated information on JAN Training Opportunities.

February 23-26, 2008. National Association of Workforce Boards Forum 2008 in Washington, DC. Stop by the ODEP booth to talk with ODEP and JAN staff. http://www.nawb.org/forum/

March 10-15, 2008. CSUN Technology and Persons with Disability Conference. Stop by the JAN Booth in the exhibit hall and JAN staff presenting during pre-conference and main conference. http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf/

April 14-17, 2008. National Association of ADA Coordinators' Spring 2008 National Conference in Miami, FL. Stop by the JAN Booth. http://www.jan.wvu.edu/naadac/naadac/conferences.html

May 12-14, 2008. National ADA Symposium and Expo in St Louis, MO. JAN staff presenting. http://www.adasymposium.org/

June 5-6, 2008. 41st Annual Pacific Coast Labor and Employment Law Conference in Seattle, WA. JAN staff presenting. http://www.pacificlaborlaw.com/

June 22-25, 2008. SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition in Chicago, Il. Stop by the ODEP booth. http://www.shrm.org/conferences/annual/

June 26-30, 2008. RESNA 2008: Campaign for Assistive Technology in Washington, DC. Stop by the JAN Booth in the exhibit hall. http://www.resna.org/Conference/Conference.php

July 9-11, 2008. APSE The Network on Employment Annual Conference in Louisville, KY. Stop by the JAN Booth in the exhibit hall. http://www.apse.org/

July 15-17, 2008. Workforce Innovations 2008 in New Orleans, LA. Stop by the ODEP booth in the exhibit hall. http://www.workforceinnovations.org/

August 10 - 13, 2008. Disability Management Employer Coalition Annual conference in Denver, CO. Stop by the JAN Booth in the exhibit hall. http://www.dmec.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=84

August 18-21, 2008. EEOC Excel Conference in Chicago, IL. Stop by the JAN exhibit booth and JAN staff presenting.

October 5-8, 2008. USBLN Annual Conference and Career Fair in Portland, OR. JAN staff presenting and stop by the ODEP booth. http://www.usbln.org/

November 19-20, 2008. 17th Annual National Workers' Compensation and Disability Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, NV. Stop by the JAN Booth in the exhibit hall. http://www.wcconference.com/

7 - Contact JAN

E-mail: jan@jan.wvu.edu

JAN Web site: http://www.jan.wvu.edu

Small Business and Self-Employment Service: http://www.jan.wvu.edu/sbses/

Call JAN: 800-526-7234 (Voice), 877-781-9403 (TTY), 304-293-5407 (Fax)

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This document was developed by the Job Accommodation Network, funded by a contract agreement from the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy (DOL079RP20426). The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the U.S. Department of Labor. Nor does mention of tradenames, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Labor.

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