The JAN web page does have some resources for job seekers available at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/indiv/index.htm#job

Guidelines for disclosure of disability at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/corner/vol01iss13.htm

Tips for Finding the Job That’s Right for You at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/Job/index.htm

You might also want to look at the EEOC Fact Sheet: Job Applicants and the ADA available on the web at http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/jobapplicant.html

You might also want to look at http://www.gettinghired.com/ This website has a mission of creating sustainable employment growth and opportunity for people with disabilities by serving and connecting people with disabilities, committed employers, advocacy organizations, and service providers

You may also want to check with your state’s vocational rehabilitation program. They may have resources to help you gain employment. For a list of vocational rehabilitation programs please look on the JAN website at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/cgi-win/TypeQuery.exe?902

Two documents on our JAN webpage may be useful in gaining accommodations. One is the Employees’ Practical Guide to Requesting and Negotiating Reasonable Accommodations Under the ADA available on the web at: http://www.jan.wvu.edu/EeGuide/index.htm

Also please look at JAN’s Fact Sheet: Ideas for Writing an Accommodation Request Letter available at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/accommrequestltr.html

For accommodation ideas for individuals with back conditions please look at the JAN website at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/soar/back.html

Also please look at the document titled Nurses with Disabilities from JAN’s Accommodation and Compliance Series available on the web at: http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/nurses.html

Thank you for contacting JAN and good luck in getting a position that will utilize your talents and experience. If you have any further questions please contact the JAN office by phone at 800-526-7234 or by email. A consultant should be able to assist you.

I applied for SSDI, and the case is great in the Medical department, but b/c of needing to take time off for recovery from very large back surgeries, I have a spotty last few years in my nursing career.

I would like to try and find a job that can accommodate me as a nurse, yet understand that I am unable to do many nursing requirements. i.e.; patient lifting, turning, pushing med carts, etc.

How do I find someone who is willing to talk to me and hire me when I disclose that I must take medication for the pain, can not do many things that other ‘normal’ nurses do? And how do the employers look at someone like me? How do the other nurses for that matter look at someone like me? That is why I decided to stop working after my last ‘try’ in 2008, hired by the first company I worked for after graduation; and ended up being very non-understanding of my disabilities when the desk job I had became ‘re-staffed’ by a nurse with higher credentials, which was required by law, and I had been covering for a nurse on pregnancy leave without knowing it!! Leaving me to do the only job available–pushing the medicine carts and doling out medication. I could not do this job, and I was subsequently ‘let go’.

I just do not foresee a great future for me if I do not meed the working ‘credits’ that have been re-done by the suits in Washington. I paid into my Social Security, I worked as long as I could even when in great pain, and finally realized I can not hold a job. If the lack of credits during a certain time-line prevent me from SSD benefits, although the hardest part to win, (the Medical aspect) has been proven; I am basically a disabled nurse with NO way to make money, will have NO income, and that, my friends, is not exactly a very positive look into my future.

Any ideas???

Thank you!!

Thank you for contacting the Job Accommodation Network (JAN). JAN provides information on the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and accommodations. Based on the information you provided, you may find the following information helpful:

First of all, you might want to check with your state insurance board about the disability. Different states have different regulations and they would be able to help you with your questions.

If your doctor wrote that you could no longer perform the duties of your job as a meter reader and needed an office position where a rest room was available, they were asking for a reassignment. In order for your employer to provide you with a reassignment, there has to be an open position that you are qualified for. See the publication below to find out more about reassignment under the ADA:

Enforcement Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the Americans with Disabilities Act
http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/accommodation.html#reassignment

Is there a way for you to see what positions are open? How is your employer helping with that? Is there an HR person involved in that?

Are there accommodations that would enable you to return you to your job if you were to get a return to work note from your doctor? You need to be able to perform the essential functions of your job, with or without accommodations. One of the essential functions would be traveling away from the office to read the meters. It might be possible to get leave as an accommodation so that you can take off the days that it is impossible to travel, and your employer might be able to consider that as long as there is no undue hardship.

Leave might also be an accommodation that your employer could provide that would enable you to have more time off while the reassignment is considered. It would be unpaid unless you have the days accrued. Have you looked into FMLA?
Leave
http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/accommodation.html#leave

Family & Medical Leave Act Links
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/links/fmlalinks.htm

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance to you. You may call at 800-526-7234 or respond by e-mail. It might be more helpful if we could speak to each other by phone.