Despite equal employment and anti-discrimination laws, people with disabilities face unique challenges in finding gainful employment or moving ahead in their careers. Michael Klazema, chief marketing technologist at VODW, looks at some of the breaking technologies that are transforming employment prospects for these individuals.
For years, individuals with disabilities ranging from quadriplegia to speech impediments have faced unique challenges in the workplace. Equal employment opportunity laws are in place to protect workers in the United States from employment discrimination based on a range of factors, from sex to religion to disability. However, employers are not required to hire candidates with disabilities or keep those employees on the payroll if they are perceived to be unwilling or unable to perform job responsibilities at a satisfactory level.
Despite the talent and perspective that these employees potentially bring to the table, people with disabilities have faced the same issue for decades: many work environments, policies, and practices are not designed with disabilities in mind. Technology has the potential to rewrite this narrative and make workplaces more disability-inclusive for people living with mental or physical challenges.
Disabilities and Employer Obligations
Laws on disabilities, employment, and discrimination are complicated regarding the protection that they provide. Take the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990Opens a new window (ADA), which officially made it illegal for anyone (not just an employer) to discriminate against someone with a disability. The law requires public facilities and infrastructure to meet specific accessibility requirements, ranging from handicap spaces in the parking lot to wheelchair-friendly ramps. The ADA also demands that employers make “reasonable accommodations†for any employees with disabilities.
Where things become complex is with the interpretation of key ADA termsOpens a new window . For instance, a “reasonable accommodation†is a change or adjustment that would enable an employee to perform the job at hand productively and effectively. An employee with a disability can request virtually any modification that they think might help them, whether it is a particular type of ergonomic desk or office chair or a software tool that helps them with computer work. However, employers are not necessarily required to grant these requests.
The keyword is “reasonable,†and if an accommodation would cause “undue hardship†for an employer, the employer can deny the request. If an accommodation would lead to financial strain, the employer could either offer an alternative option that is less costly or argue that it would present an undue hardship to employ the person at all.
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Technology and Reasonable Accommodations
Technology offers a significant opportunity for both employers and job seekers with disabilities. Innovations are making reasonable accommodations for folks with disabilities more accessible, helpful, common, and affordable. By giving employers new, cost-effective ways to modify their policies, environments, or practices, technology could open many more employment doors for people whose disabilities have previously made it difficult to find fulfilling employment.
One area of opportunity is add-on technologies that enable people with disabilities to engage with devices in new ways. So many jobs today require employees to do most of their work via computers, keyboards, laptops, tablets, touchscreens, or even smartphones. For people who have limited movement capabilities or use of their hands, these systems can pose a challenge. New technologiesOpens a new window are changing how people interface with these core systems, whether it’s by voice, eye movements, foot pedals, or other means.
Learn More: How Virtual Reality Works to Help Create a More Inclusive WorkplaceOpens a new window
One such tool is a brain-computer interfaceOpens a new window or BCI. A BCI allows a person who isn’t able to move much or at all to control a computer using their brain waves. BCI technologies aren’t widespread yet and have mostly been utilized in laboratory settings, but further research could bring these systems closer to positively impacting the disability community. BCI tech could represent a groundbreaking opportunity for workers living with paralysis, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, or other movement-impacting diagnoses.
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies also have the potential to open more job opportunities for workers with disabilities. These technologies are poised to see massive growth in workplace applications in the coming years: PwC predictsOpens a new window that approximately 23.5 million jobs around the globe will utilize AR and VR in some way by 2030 – which, if accurate, would represent 2,700% growth.
VR allows workers to wear a headset to become safely and entirely immersed in a digital environment that mimics a real-life location or scenario. Workers can interact with this environment either by turning their head left and right or by moving through the environment, using handheld controls and haptic sensors to engage with the virtual world around them.
AR provides an overlay experience that pairs what is directly in front of an employee with enhancements and added information in an interface that fits seamlessly over the employee’s real-life view. AR tech can be as simple as a phone app or as complicated as a VR-style headset that provides 360-degree immersion in enhanced reality.
These technologies could change how companies interview people, conduct pre-hire skills assessments, handle onboarding and job training, carry out ongoing employee development programs, and more. There are also benefits of AR and VR for workers with disabilities.
This articleOpens a new window identifies multiple interesting possibilities. One is an AR or VR training scenario that would help an employee living with autism or a different disability that challenges social capabilities to practice social interaction or public speaking in a safe environment. An employee could use a VR headset to give a presentation to a digital crowd, or use an AR overlay to interact with colleagues in a way that incorporates helpful tips and feedback in real-time.
With a pre-start date VR walkthrough, an employee with a disability could safely get to know the social landscape, rules, and expectations of a new position. AR could help every employee to learn the ins and outs of a new workplace stress-free.
AR and VR technologies could also provide a source of support to an employee living with a disability who is anxious or uncomfortable with a work transition. Whether it is provided to an individual with a spinal cord injury returning to work after months of recovery or a young cancer survivor getting a job for the first time, a VR headset could allow an employee to see and get comfortable with a new workplace and its social experiences in a low-pressure environment where questions and mistakes are welcome. An AR app specific to a workplace could also provide friendly, ongoing reminders that keep employees with or without disabilities mentally and physically grounded in their surroundings.
Another potential source of support is virtual meeting technology that would allow someone living with a speech impairment to communicate more clearly and effectively with colleagues via in-app voice translation. Such technology could be a significant source of professional support not only for employees who have always struggled to communicate but also for those who are facing an unexpected medical challenge later in life due to a stroke, an ALS diagnosis, or a chronic illness that affects speech. The right technology could even gamify the process of achieving seamless communication with personalized AI-driven feedback or AR-enabled pop-ups that help keep an employee’s talking points on the track.
Many technologies that aid in workplace accessibility for people with disabilities are lower-tech than AR and VR. Simple things from automatic doors to motion-sensing lights in offices, which may seem minor, do a lot for universal office design and can provide supportive pathways for employees who rely on a mobility device such as crutches, a power chair, or a manual wheelchair due to paraplegia, multiple sclerosis, or transverse myelitis.
Looking Forward
Right now, implementing full-scale AR and VR might not qualify as a “reasonable accommodation,†in part because these technologies are still evolving. The promising thing about technology is how quickly innovation takes hold – today’s cutting edge is tomorrow’s commonplace. Looking forward, employers should pay attention to the latest developments in capability and pricing, particularly in designing reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. An “undue hardship†a year or two ago may now be far more affordable and easier to implement.
Keeping a finger on the pulse of these shifts will help businesses to become more disability friendly. In turn, they will be able to embrace smart, capable professionals who can contribute unique talents and insights to an organization, even if they require a few accommodations to do so.
Which technologies are you using to simplify the lives of employees with disabilities? Let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window .