Volume 3, Issue 1, First Quarter, 2005

JAN E-News is the quarterly newsletter of the Job Accommodation Network. JAN is a service of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. This newsletter will help keep you informed of new work site accommodation tools and techniques, changes at JAN, and other issues important to improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Disclaimer: This document does not represent a statement of policy by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Please use the links at the end of this document to subscribe, unsubscribe, and contact us.

Editor's Note: This edition of JAN E-News focuses on two special initiatives: disabled veterans returning from the Global war on Terrorism to the workplace and the evacuation of people with disabilities during emergencies. Each of these received special attention after the events of September 11, 2001. These activities demonstrate how the needs for workplace accommodation can change quickly and how workers in the field of job accommodation meet these needs.

Index

1. 2005 JAN Conference is Scheduled
2. REALifelines (Recovery and Employment Assistance Lifelines)
3. Evacuation of People with Disabilities: Demand for Information is Increasing
4. Contact JAN

1. 2005 JAN Conference is Scheduled

The 2005 JAN Annual Conference will be held on Monday, September 26 and Tuesday, September 27 at the Westin San Francisco Airport hotel. This conference will focus on accommodation questions that confront human resource managers, supervisors, and other professionals who have responsibility for the hiring and management of employees. Three concurrent training tracks will allow the participant to tailor the experience to the needs of his or her organization. JAN experts from the Motor/Mobility, Sensory, and Cognitive/Psychiatric teams will provide highly interactive sessions in all tracks. Guest speakers will provide special training opportunities.

Mark your calendar now and look for more information in the next issue of JAN E-News and on the JAN Web site (http://www.jan.wvu.edu/new/index.htm).

2. REALifelines (Recovery and Employment Assistance Lifelines)

At the October 4th signing ceremony for the REALifelines program, Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao said, "If you have been wounded or injured serving this nation, real people are going to meet you face to face with the personalized help that you may need to recover and to succeed in a career that you love."

Recovery and Employment Assistance Lifelines or REALifelines is a joint initiative by the Department of Labor and the military medical community. It is designed to provide personal recovery and employment assistance to disabled service members returning from duty in the Global War on Terrorism. REALifelines assists veterans of the war on terrorism re-enter the workforce and make the transition from military life to civilian life.

The Job Accommodation Network assists in this effort by providing targeted accommodation information, disability-rights information, and contact information for local resources. This information will facilitate training, employment, and community integration for each service member. JAN's REALifelines consultants work with the counselors who are on-site at Bethesda Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The counselor and consultant work together to determine the needs of each service member and to develop an appropriate complement of services to ensure a successful transition to civilian life.

REALifelines counselors help service members identify barriers to employment and set up individual recovery and re-employment plans. The program also is designed to provide a national tracking system that will ensure follow-up services by linking veterans to local professionals who will provide support as the veteran moves through recovery and into employment.

The objectives of REALifelines include:
• Developing a comprehensive Individual Recovery and Reemployment Plan (IRRP) with service members who are newly disabled.
• Establishing a national tracking system to ensure implementation of the IRRP, monitor follow-up services, and maintain contact with transitioning service members.
• Providing links between service members and community-level support services.
• Integrating federal outreach and transition efforts through a national call center.

REALifelines features a highly personalized service to help the service members adapt to their disabilities and to find well-paying jobs. During the IRRP development process, the counselors help each person discover his or her special interests and unique talents, and to identify the career path that will ensure a successful transition to the private sector.

- Denetta Dowler

3. Evacuation of People with Disabilities: Demand for Information is Increasing

For many years, the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) has provided information on accommodations for people with disabilities during emergency evacuations. However, requests for this information increased dramatically after 9-11. Immediately after the tragedy, JAN consultants came together to assist individuals involved in emergency evacuation by providing clear and concise information to use in planning, establishing, and implementing emergency evacuation procedures. The result was a publication called JAN’s Employers’ Guide to Including Employees with Disabilities in Emergency Evacuation Plans. This publication has been accessed over 500 times per month since it was first posted on JAN’s Web site. The following is a summary of the information contained in the publication. For a complete copy, visit http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/emergency.html.

The first step to including people with disabilities is to develop a plan. Planning involves identifying accommodation needs, getting input from people with disabilities, and choosing effective accommodations. One of the best ways to identify accommodation needs is to ask employees if they have limitations that might interfere with safe emergency evacuation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued guidance that describes what information employers are allowed to gather under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Rehabilitation Act when developing an emergency evacuation plan (http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/evacuation.html).

Once accommodation needs have been identified, the employer should get input from employees with disabilities about the types of accommodations that might be needed. Often employees with disabilities are the best resource for accommodation ideas. Employers might conduct mock evacuation drills to identify needs that have not been determined, develop a method to identify visitors with special needs, and contact local emergency departments for guidance. Employers can contact JAN for specific accommodation ideas on a case-by-case basis. Once accommodation options are determined, the employer can choose among effective options.

The second step for including employees with disabilities in emergency evacuation plans is plan implementation, which includes plan distribution and practice. After the final evacuation plan is written, a copy should be distributed to all employees and key personnel. In addition, an evacuation drill should be performed to make sure all employees are familiar with the plan. Then, the plan should be integrated into the standard operating procedures.

The last step for including employees with disabilities in emergency evacuation plans is plan maintenance. To ensure that accommodations continue to be effective, the evacuation plan should be practiced and accommodations updated periodically. In addition, a system for reporting new hazards and accommodation needs should be developed, a relationship with local emergency departments should be maintained, and new employees should be made aware of the plan. Finally, all accommodation equipment used in emergency evacuation should be inspected and maintained in proper working order.

Emergency evacuation information related to accommodations is developing into a refined discipline that involves completing research on evacuation-related equipment and methods, making emergency evacuation a normal part of the workplace culture, and ensuring that training materials make accommodation requests more streamlined and effective.

The Federal government is providing strong leadership for emergency planning that includes individuals with disabilities.

In July 2004, in commemoration of the 14th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, President Bush issued Executive Order 13347 on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities. Under the Executive Order, federal agencies are charged with ensuring that their emergency preparedness activities are fully inclusive of individuals with disabilities and that state, local, and private entities are supported in doing the same. The Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has been asked to chair the newly established Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness in the Workplace. During 2005, ODEP's leadership of this interagency Subcommittee will result in the production of a template of guidelines for steering federal agencies in the development, implementation, and maintenance of emergency plans that are fully inclusive of employees with disabilities. This template is being informed by ODEP's Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities document published in December 2003 (http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/ep/index2.htm). For more information about ODEP's work under the Executive Order, contact Brian Parsons, Advisor for Employer Policy, at (202) 693-7858 or parsons.brian@dol.gov.

- Beth Loy, Linda Batiste, and Brian Parsons

4. 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: 1-800-526-7234 (Voice/TTY), 304-293-5407 (Fax)
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This publication is funded under a contract supported by the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the U.S. Department of Labor, contract #J-9-M-2-0022. The opinions contained in this publication are those of the contractor and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Labor.

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