Accessibility Alphabet

Webinar: Inclusive Hiring: Applicants with Disabilities

Webinar: Top 10 Accessibility Resolutions

Resource: Accessible Communications in the Workplace

Resource: Inclusive Employer Toolkit: Workplace Accessibility

Accessible Parking

Accessible parking spaces include features that enable individuals with disabilities to access parking. These features include consideration of location, number of spaces, technical guidelines for car and van spaces, signage, access aisles, and access to an accessible route.

Accessible Seating

Accessible seats include spaces in public areas and venues designed specifically for individuals who use wheelchairs. These spaces include consideration of accessible route, approach, grade, clear floor space, dimensions, companion seating, and lines of site.

Webinar Series: The Employers' ADA Handbook

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Checklist for Existing Facilities (ADA Checklist)

A checklist based on the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible design based on the four priorities listed in the ADA Title III regulations from the Department of Justice: accessible approach and entrance, access to goods and services, access to public toilet rooms, and access to other items. The checklist states these priorities are equally applicable to state and local government facilities. The checklist does not include all sections and technical guidelines from the 2010 Standards.

The checklist provides instructions for conducting the survey, helps identify barriers, and makes general recommendations for remedies.

ADA Standards for Accessible Design, 2010 (ADA Standards)

The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, known as the Standards, are published regulations from the U. S. Department of Justice for Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Standards set minimum requirements for state and local government facilities, public accommodations, and commercial facilities to be readily accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities.

Webinar Series: The Employers' ADA Handbook

Adaptive Technology

Adaptive technology is assistive technology that is specifically designed for individuals with disabilities and would not often be used by people without disabilities. Examples include screen reading software, braille, braille display, tactile keyboards, and amplified telephone equipment.

Webinar Series: The Employers' ADA Handbook

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Webinar: Navigating the Reasonable Accommodation Process

Webinar: Accessible Communications in the Workplace

Alternative Text (Alt Text)

Brief text descriptions of visual images and content in applications such as webpages, PowerPoint, email signatures with logos, and electronic documents used to describe the images to a person who is blind or has low vision.

Webinar: Artificial Intelligence in Hiring and Employment

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) utilizes computer systems to perform tasks customarily performed by human intelligence and senses. Hiring and employment platforms may use AI to screen applicants, process applications, and provide training.

Assistive Technology (AT)

Assistive technology (AT) includes items, equipment, products, software, or systems used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. AT can be low-tech or high-tech and help people perform activities such as speaking, typing, remembering, seeing, hearing, learning, and walking.

Fact Sheet: Assistive Technology in the Workplace

B

Braille

Braille is a tactile writing system that includes a series of raised dots read through touch by people who are blind or have low vision. Braille is not a language. It is a code that encompasses many languages.

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Braille Display, Refreshable

A refreshable braille display is a device used to access information on a computer through a series of pins that are electronically raised and lowered. These pins are refreshed or changed as the user navigates the computer screen via command keys, screen reader commands, cursor, or cursor routing keys.

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

C

CART

Computer access real-time translation (CART) is the instant translation of spoken information that can be displayed on an individual monitor, projected onto a screen, combined with a virtual presentation as captions, and made available to additional systems. This service can be provided on-site or remotely.

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Captioning

Captioning is a process in which time-based chunks of a transcript are coded and synchronized with the audio of digital content, such as a video. Captions are created from transcription.

Open captions are a part of the digital content, such as a video, and cannot be turned off. Closed captions are included in a separate track from the digital content and can be turned off and on.

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Fact Sheet: Communication Tips – Deaf/Hard of Hearing

Centralized Accommodation Fund (CAF)

A centralized accommodation fund (CAF) is an enterprise-wide fund used to pay for reasonable accommodations for candidates and employees with disabilities. A CAF is considered a best practice and may remove a barrier to providing reasonable accommodations by reducing the concern hiring managers and supervisors have that the cost of accommodations must come from their operating budget.

Conduct

Conduct in the workplace is a set of rules and expectations about how employees may and may not behave related to work and work environments. Here are examples of conduct rules: no violence or threats of violence, no stealing, no destruction of property, no inappropriate behavior between coworkers, no insubordination towards supervisors, and a requirement to show respect for customers and clients.

Fact Sheet: Performance, Conduct, and Safety

Confidentiality

Confidentiality means enforcing guidelines on private information related to access, disclosure, and storage. The ADA provides guidelines for employers to follow to keep private information confidential related to disability disclosure and providing reasonable accommodations.

Covered Entities

Covered entities are those entities who must comply with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Here are examples of covered entities: private employers with 15 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor unions, and joint-labor management committees.

D

DEIA

DEIA is an acronym for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. DEIA is practice or a way of ensuring all types of diversity, including disability, can participate equitably in all aspects of the hiring process and the workplace. DEIA strives to remove barriers and create access.

Digital Accessibility

Digital accessibility refers to accessing the digital environment either directly (without the use of additional assistive technology) or with assistive technology. Here are examples of the digital environment in the workplace: websites, intranets, virtual hiring platforms, virtual meeting platforms, smart devices, applications, computer systems, audio, video, email, text messaging, social media outlets, and others.

Fact Sheet: Digital Environment

Direct Threat

Under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a direct threat is “a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.” A significant risk is considered a high risk, not just a slightly increased risk or a speculative or remote risk. Under Title I, employers may require as a qualification standard that applicants and employees not pose a direct threat in the work environment. The determination of a direct threat requires an individualized assessment and reasonable accommodation must be considered.

Contact OOD Staff: Business Relations Team

Disability Awareness Training

Disability awareness training aims to increase awareness of various types of disabilities and the ways individuals with disabilities may communicate, interact, move about, respond to change, and process the environment. This can help all employees feel comfortable and included in the workplace.

Contact OOD Staff: Business Relations Team

Fact Sheet: OOD Training

Disability Etiquette Training

Disability etiquette training aims to increase awareness of various types of disabilities and focuses on how to have respectful interactions with and communications about individuals with disabilities. This can help all employees feel confident in having respectful interactions with coworkers in the workplace.

Disability Etiquette Learner's Guide

Fact Sheet: OOD Training

Disability-Related Question

A disability-related question is likely to elicit a response that discloses a disability. An example is asking an employee or candidate if they can lift fifty pounds or if they can stand for eight hours.

Webinar: The Employers’ Reasonable Accommodation Handbook: Session Six: What can I ask, and why?

Disclosure

Disclosure refers to sharing information related to a disability. The choice to disclose is a personal decision and can be overwhelming. Individuals can choose to disclose a disability at any point in the hiring process or employment if they wish to request a reasonable accommodation.

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Webinar: Inclusive Hiring: Applicants with Disabilities

E

EEO Statement

An equal employment opportunity (EEO) statement expresses an employer’s commitment to not discriminate based on designated protected statuses, which includes disability, in the hiring process and the workplace.

Employee Resource Group (ERG)

An employee resource group (ERG) is an internal group within an organization structured in a way to support the unique needs of the diverse group. These can be focused on a variety of diverse topics, including disability. ERGs may also be referred to as business resource groups and affinity groups.

Essential Functions

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines essential functions as the “basic job duties” an applicant or employee “must be able to perform, with or without a reasonable accommodation.” In other words, essential functions are the critical job duties that must be completed to meet the job’s expectations and removal of these duties would “fundamentally change a job.”

Webinar: The Inclusive Employer Handbook: Session 1: Inclusive Workplace

I

Inclusive Workplace

An inclusive workplace is one where employers recognize the value of diversity and the unique skills and perspectives each employee brings to the organization. By valuing diversity and inclusion, employers may foster a culture where all employees feel comfortable to be themselves at work and feel valued for their unique contributions.

Resource: The Inclusive Employer Toolkit: Inclusive Workplace

Interactive Process

The ADA requires employers to provide effective accommodations to employees with disabilities. To do this, the guidance from the EEOC indicates employers should collaborate with individuals who request accommodations to work together to identify effective accommodations. This collaboration is referred to as the interactive process.

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Webinar: Navigating the Reasonable Accommodation Process

Interoperability

Interoperability means technology (computer hardware and software) and assistive technology (AT) working together to enable individuals with disabilities using AT to access applications effectively. Examples of assistive technology include screen reading software and speech recognition software.

Webinar: Job Developers and Job Coaches in the Workplace

J

Job Coach

A job coach is a person who provides specialized training to customize an approach to helping an individual with a disability acclimate to the work environment and learn the job. A job coach can be a form of a reasonable accommodation and is customarily provided onsite in the workplace, when needed.

Fact Sheet: Remote Job Coaching

Fact Sheet: Job Coaching Instructional Strategies

Job Developer

A job developer is a person who works with candidates with disabilities through the preparation and job search phases. This includes education and guidance about the labor market, helping the candidate develop career seeking skills and matching the skills and interests of the candidate with employers.

Webinar: Job Developers and Job Coaches in the Workplace

Job-Related and Consistent with Business Necessity

Job-related means a qualification standard, test, performance measure, or selection criterion applies to a specific job, not a general class of jobs.

Consistent with business necessity means a qualification standard, test, performance measure, or selection criterion applies to the essential functions of a specific job.

Webinar Series: The Employers & Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Webinar: Inclusive Hiring: Applicants with Disabilities

M

Major Life Activities

The ADA defines major life activities as those daily functions important to most individuals and which most individuals in the general population can perform with little or no difficulty. The ADA provides two non-exhaustive lists of examples of major life activities (e.g., seeing, hearing, walking, and learning) which includes major bodily functions (e.g., neurological, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal functions).

Webinar Series: The Employers’ Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Resource: Disability Education Resources

Marginal Functions

The marginal functions of a job are those less critical duties and minor tasks that are not essential functions of the job.

Webinar: Inclusive Hiring: Applicants with Disabilities

Medical Exams

A medical exam seeks information about mental or physical health conditions.

N

National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)

National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is observed annually in October and celebrates the contributions individuals with disabilities make in the workplace. NDEAM highlights disability employment issues and shares best practices employers can utilize to foster disability inclusive workplace cultures.

Resource: National Disability Employment Awareness Month

Neurodiversity and Neurodivergence

Neurodiversity is the concept that there is natural variation in the human brain and no two individuals are the same. This includes variation in how individuals think, process information, learn, interact, behave, and perceive the world. Neurodivergence refers to variation in the human brain that is outside what society traditionally recognizes as the norm for brain functions. Neurotypical refers to the variation in the human brain that falls within the norm.

These groups include but are not limited to people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, dyslexia, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Webinar: The Employers’ Reasonable Accommodation Handbook: Session 4: Neurodiversity at Work

O

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Training

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Training is designed to help blind and low vision individuals navigate the work environment safely and efficiently. In includes skill development focused on sensory awareness and techniques for traveling with a service animal, a cane, and/or other assistive devices.

Webinar: The Employers’ Reasonable Accommodation Handbook: Session Five: Sensory Disabilities

P

Performance

Performance in the workplace is a set of established standards that include productivity and quality expectations. These are used to inform the job’s essential functions and to evaluate all employees in a consistent manner.

Webinar: Supervisors and Title I of the ADA

Physical Accessibility

Physical accessibility refers to accessing the built environment when participating in the hiring process, performing the job, and enjoying the benefits of employment. The built environment includes components such as parking, entrances and exits, accessible routes, common areas, work areas and surfaces, signs, and emergency systems.

Fact Sheet: Built Environment

Procurement Process

The procurement process refers to buying information and communication technology for the workplace. An accessible procurement process includes ensuring these purchases are accessible for everyone, including individuals with disabilities.

Webinar: The Employers’ ADA Handbook: Session 1: Overview

Webinar: The Employers’ ADA Handbook: Session 4: Sources and Funding

Protected Individual

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a protected individual as a person who has a disability according to the ADA’s definition and who is qualified to perform the job’s essential functions, with or without a reasonable accommodation. Qualified individuals with disabilities are protected under the ADA from discrimination in employment based on disability.

Webinar: Supervisors and Title I of the ADA

Provider

Providers are professionals who deliver training, goods, services, and information to employers. They also provide services directly to individuals with disabilities who wish to find and keep a job such as job development, job coaching, and rehabilitation technology assessments.

Resource: How to Become an OOD VR Provider

Resource: OOD Provider Manual

Q

Qualified Individual with a Disability

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and individual with a disability is qualified when they meet two requirements. First, the individual must meet the employer’s qualification standards and requirements for the job. Also, the individual must be able to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Webinar Series: The Employers’ ADA Handbook: Session 1: Overview

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

R

Reasonable Accommodation (RA)

Under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covered employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation (RA) to qualified individuals with disabilities to compete for a job, perform the job, and/or to enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment. An RA is a change or adjustment to the job or work environment to enable an individual with a disability to access the work-related activity effectively. This could include providing equipment or services, restructuring the job, providing a flexible schedule, modifying policies, making the workplace accessible, and providing reassignment. RAs can be made in the built and digital environments.

Webinar: The Employers’ Reasonable Accommodation Toolkit

Webinar: Navigating the Reasonable Accommodation Process

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Process

A reasonable accommodation process is a formalized policy and/or set or procedures for navigating the interactive process (see definition for interactive process). The process begins with recognizing a request or need for an accommodation. The process then continues with gathering information, identifying options, choosing a solution, and then implementing and monitoring accommodations.

Webinar: The Employers’ Reasonable Accommodation Toolkit

Webinar: Navigating the Reasonable Accommodation Process

Fact Sheet: Eight Steps to Enhance Your Process and RA Flow Chart

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Statement

A reasonable accommodation (RA) statement communicates the right to RA for the hiring process and in the workplace for qualified individuals with disabilities. This statement includes contact information for making a request in a variety of ways. An RA statement is one way employers can communicate their commitment to providing RAs and being a disability-inclusive employer.

Webinar Series: The Employers' Reasonable Accommodation Handbook

Webinar: The Employers’ Reasonable Accommodation Toolkit

Reassignment

Reassignment is a reasonable accommodation that involves reassignment to a vacant position and is considered when an employee with a disability is not able to perform the job’s essential functions, with or without a reasonable accommodation, because of the disability.

Restructuring a Job

Restructuring a job is a reasonable accommodation which includes either redistributing the marginal functions of a job or modifying how marginal or essential functions of the job are performed.

Webinar: The Inclusive Employer Handbook Session 4: Workplace Accessibility

S

Safety

Safety standards in the work environment are important to everyone. People with disabilities cannot be held to a higher safety standard in performance of a job than people without disabilities. Safety hazards in the work environment should be evaluated as to their effect on those with and without disabilities.

Fact Sheet: Inclusive Employer Handbook

Screen Reading Software

Screen reading software communicates written content in the digital environment by reading the information through a speech synthesizer or delivering the information to a refreshable braille display. An example commonly used in the workplace is JAWS. This can enable individuals who are blind or have low vision to receive the written content effectively. Screen reading software can often be used with computers, laptops, and smart devices and enable individuals to browse the internet, use products such as Microsoft Word and Excel, and utilize apps on smart devices.

Service Animals

ADA.gov defines a service animal under Titles II and III as a dog (any breed and size) that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for individuals with disabilities. Under Title I of the ADA, there is no definition of a service animal and no guidelines established by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for employers to follow. Some employers permit service animals in the workplace through reasonable accommodations such as modifying a policy, permitting a flexible schedule, and/or providing a private office.

Fact Sheet: Service Animals

Sign Language Interpretation

Sign language interpretation is a method of facilitating communication between individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and individuals who are hearing.

Fact Sheet: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Employees

Speech-to-Text Software

Speech-to-text software converts the spoken word to written text. It can be installed on computers and smart devices. This software may be used by individuals with a variety of disabilities.

STABLE Accounts

STABLE accounts permit eligible individuals with disabilities to save a portion of their earnings which grow tax free without compromising needed government benefits when these monies are spent on qualified disability expenses. These include items such as education, housing, transportation, healthcare, assistive technology, basic living expenses, and many other items. STABLE accounts are a powerful tool for people with disabilities to increase financial security and experience greater independence.

Resource: Career Pathways Toolkit: Financial Basics

Website: STABLE Account

T

Tax Incentives

Tax incentives include tax credits and deductions employers may be eligible to receive when they employ individuals with disabilities, provide reasonable accommodations, and make changes to create an accessible workplace.

Resource: Employer Tax Incentives

Telework

Telework is an alternate work location that may be a form of reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities (ACT) through modifying a workplace policy.

Webinar: Digital Accessibility and Communications

Text-to-Speech Software

Text-to-speech is a type of assistive technology that reads digital text aloud. It can be installed on computers and smart devices. This software may be used by individuals with a variety of disabilities.

Transcription

The process of converting audio to written text. Transcripts that are written verbatim take the audio word for word, including utterances and sound effects. Transcripts that are clean read are edited to read more clearly.

Transcription is different than captioning however it forms the basis of captioning.

Webinar: Navigating the Reasonable Accommodation Process

Trial Accommodations

A trial accommodation is a temporary or short-term reasonable accommodation implemented to determine whether or not the accommodation is effective in enabling the employee to perform the essential functions of the job.

U

Undue Hardship

An undue hardship is the term used by the ADA that means an accommodation is too costly or difficult to implement. Determining undue hardship must be based on an individualized assessment using the factors provided in the guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

V

Video Remote Interpretation

Video remote interpretation (VRI) is the delivery of qualified sign language interpretation from an off-site remote location through the use of videoconferencing technology, equipment, and a high speed internet connection. At times, VRI may be an effective solution and at other times, the best solution is to provide on-site sign language interpretation is the appropriate solution.