Accommodating Employees who use Mobility Devices Burr Corley, MSW, Consultant

1. Accommodating Employees who use • Mobility Devices • Burr Corley, MSW, Consultant • Eddie Whidden, M.A., Senior Consultant

2. Accommodating Employees who use Mobility Devices • Objectives • JAN Overview • Employees who use mobility devices • Accommodations for employees who use mobility devices • Scenarios • Questions

3. JAN Overview

4. How many people use mobility devices? • There are 6.8 million Americans living in the community who use an assistive device to help them with mobility • 27.4%of Americans who use mobility devices • are in the labor force • These statistics are from following document • Kaye, H. S., Kang, T. and LaPlante, M.P. (2000). Mobility Device Use in the United States. Disability Statistics Report, (14). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Available online at http://dsc.ucsf.edu/pdf/report14.pdf

5. Impairments which may require use of a mobility device • Arthritis • Amputation • ALS • Back conditions • Cancer • Cerebral Palsy • Heart Disease • Hemiplegia • Hip conditions • Knee Conditions • Multiple Sclerosis • Muscular Dystrophy • Myasthenia Gravis • Lupus • Osteoporosis • Paraplegia • Parkinson’s Disease • Quadriplegia • Respiratory Disorders • Spina Bifida • Spinal Cord Injury • Stroke

6. Types of mobility devices • Canes • Crutches • Walkers • Knee Walkers • Rollators • Wheelchairs • Manual and Electric • Standing • Outdoor • Scooters

7. Mobility Impairments in the Workplace • Accessing the work site • Accessing the work space • Accessing information technology • Bending, stooping, and kneeling • Reaching • Maintaining balance • Sitting for prolonged periods • Standing • Walking • Lifting materials • Carrying and moving materials • Lifting people • Driving or operating vehicles

8. Accessing the Worksite • Install automatic door openers • Accessible door handles • Parking • Modify the building to make it accessible • Ramps • Chair lifts • Stair lifts • Elevators • Restrooms

9. Accessing the Worksite • Moving employee to accessible location • Allowing or providing mobility devices • Scooter • Wheelchair • Manual • Powered • All-Terrain

10. Emergency EvacuationMotor Impairments • Employers should remove any physical barriers (boxes, supplies, furniture) to insure a barrier-free route of travel out of the building. • Employers may want to provide heavy gloves to protect individuals' hands from debris when pushing their manual wheelchairs, a patch kit to repair flat tires, and extra batteries for those who use motorized wheelchairs or scooters. Arrangements should also be made to make wheelchairs available after evacuation.

11. Emergency evacuation • Designate areas of rescue assistance • Providing emergency evacuation mobility aids

12. Accessing the Workspace • Providing accessible route of travel • Modifying workstation to make it accessible • Ergonomic chairs • Articulating keyboard trays and mousing surfaces • Foot rests and forearm supports • Headsets • Slant boards and copy holders

13. Accessing the Workspace • Desk-A-Lators • Provide adjustable workstation that can allow a wheelchair user access to the desk, or allow alternating between sitting and standing • Accessible workstations for office settings • Accessible workstations for industrial settings

14. Accessing Information Technology • Alternative keyboards • Alternative mice • Speech recognition

15. Accommodations for Climbing • Aerial Lifts • Work platforms • Provide reacher • Provide safety ladders for • employees who must use • ladders

16. Bending, Stooping, and Kneeling • Raise equipment or material on which the employee is working • Provide low stool or creeper • Racatac • Provide reacher

17. Reaching • Set up workstation to minimize reaching • Provide reacher • Job restructuring

18. Maintaining Balance • Provide safety ladders for employees who must use ladders • Provide or allow use of mobility aids • Canes • Walkers with seats • Rollators • Wheelchair • Scooter

19. Sitting for Prolonged Periods • Providing adjustable workstation • Using ergonomic chairs • Seat cushions

20. Sitting for Prolonged Periods • Implementing ergonomic principles • Monitor risers • Articulating keyboard and mouse trays • Foot rests and forearm supports • Headsets • Lumbar cushions • Copyholders, page turners, and book holders • Task lighting

21. Standing for Prolonged Periods • Adjustable and accessible workstations • Stand-lean stools • Anti-fatigue matting • Stand-up wheelchairs • ErgoMates

22. Walking • Communicating with email, IM, two-way radios and cell phones • ErgoMates • Providing or allowing mobility device • Wheelchairs • Scooters • Walkers and rollators • Canes

23. Lifting Materials • Job restructuring • Compact lifting devices • Adjustable lift tables • Vacuum lifts • Mobile cranes • Tool balancers and ergonomic • tools

24. Carrying and Moving Materials • Carts and hand trucks • Motorized carts • Baskets for walkers and rollators • Carts that can be attached to a mobility device like a scooter

25. Accessibility in Agriculture • National Agrability Project • http://www.agrability.org

26. Lifting People • Adjustable and walk-up changing tables • Adjustable examination tables • Patient lifts • Transfer aids • Independent living products

27. Driving or Operating Vehicles • Steering grips • Vehicle cushions • Anti vibration seats and wraps • Automatic clutch • Hand controls • Pedal extenders • Specific seat belts and seat belt extenders • Swivel seats and seat extenders • Lifters and carriers for mobility aids • Allow work from home

28. Non-Product Accommodations • Job restructuring • Modified schedule • Reassignment • Telework

29. Scenario 1 • A caller said an employee with a doctor's note stating he needs to telework because he can only walk 200 ft without experiencing pain/weakness due to neuropathy. The employee’s job is sedentary. They wanted some alternatives to working from home. We discussed the use of a mobility device and placing him closer to the common-use areas in the office, such as, the restroom, break area, etc.

30. Scenario 2 • A school teacher with 30 years experience in the classroom has difficulty walking around the room in order to give one-on-one attention to her students and has difficulty balancing while standing in front of the class for prolonged periods. Her arthritis has worsened in the last two years making mobility an issue at work. We discussed the use of a sit-to-stand stool to use when lecturing and a rollator for some limited walking.

31. Scenario 3 • Caller said they have a city employee working in grounds maintenance, but the employee has difficulty walking on uneven terrain and must haul bags of fertilizer throughout the area. She has a back condition resulting in restrictions of walking, carrying, and lifting. We suggested a powered scooter designed for outdoor use with a "yardcart" attached to the rear of the scooter.

32. Scenario 4 • An employee has trouble lifting/moving heavy boxes of computer paper due to a shoulder injury; he works in an office setting and deliveries are made to the basement. He must lift/move the boxes while ascending the basement stairs. We explained the use of a stair-climbing compact material lift device.

33. Tax Incentives • Disabled Access Credit (DAC) • Architectural and Transportation Barrier Removal Deduction • Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Program • Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program • http://AskJAN.org/media/tax.html

34. Questions? AskJAN.org

35. Work that Works • Contact • (800) 526-7234 (V) & (877) 781-9403 (TTY) • (304) 216-8189 via text • AskJAN.org & jan@askjan.org • janconsultants via Skype