ATU482 – Job Accommodation Network with Anne Hirsh

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Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.

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Anne Hirsh:
Hi, this is Anne Hirsh and I’m the associate director of the Job Accommodation Network and this is your Assistive Technology Update.

Josh Anderson:
Hello and welcome to your assistive technology update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis Indiana. Welcome to episode 482 of assistive technology update, it’s scheduled to be released on August 21st, 2020. On today’s show we’re lucky enough to have Anne Hirsh, the associate director of the Job Accommodation Network or JAN, on to talk about JAN and what they have to offer to individuals about their website a little bit, and also about the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Josh Anderson:
Speaking of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we have a quick story about the Capitol Crawl and how this protest helped lead to the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We also have a story about Facebook accessibility and what they’re doing to make it more accessible. A new wearable device coming out of the folks from Harvard to help individuals who are blind, navigate the world around them. And also a story about turning your Android phone into an earthquake sensor. We thank you so much for joining us today. Now let’s go ahead and get on with the show.

Josh Anderson:
Do you find yourself a little bit more time on your hands? Maybe you’re really busy and only have a little bit of time to listen to podcast or maybe listening to this has you thinking, well, what about this? What about that? Well, if you’re short on time, or if you have questions about assistive technology, we have other podcasts that might just fit your needs. The first one is Accessibility Minute. This one minute long podcast gives you a little taste of Assistive Technology and really kind of wet your whistle to have you go out and find out more about a piece of technology and how it might help those you work with, yourself, or maybe a friend or family member.

Josh Anderson:
If you happen to have questions about Assistive Technology, we have Assistive Technology frequently asked questions or ATFAQ. The show is hosted by Brian Norton and features yours truly along with Belva Smith and Tracy Castillo as we all talk about assistive technology with questions that come in from email, phone calls, and other means. We also don’t always know the answer so it’s very important that we have listeners that can help us out with some of those questions, because while we like to think every once in a while that we may know everything, we’re proven wrong almost daily on that one. So if you’re looking for more podcasts to listen to, if you’re short on time and need a really quick podcast, or if you have questions about assistive technology, make sure to check out Accessibility Minute and assistive technology frequently asked questions wherever you get your podcasts.

Josh Anderson:
So I don’t know if our first story could really be called assistive technology, but it’s definitely something that can be assistive and it’s definitely something cool with technology. So we all know our cell phones, be it Android or iOS, have all these little gadgets built in there. They can tell how fast you’re moving, if you’re shaking, other things like that. Well, Google has decided to use this technology to turn their Android phones into an earthquake detection network. I’ll put a link to this story over in our show notes and it’s by [inaudible 00:04:10]. And this story talks about how Google is actually rolling out a feature that can give you an early warning about potential earthquakes, but also turns the phone into a mini seismometer and makes it part of a network of shockwave detecting Android devices. So just think about that. You usually have these different things by the Geological Society and other agencies that sit there and figure out how big an earthquake is, the magnitude, how far it goes and all that, but you only have so many sensors.

Josh Anderson:
Well, now you can use what’s built into all these Android phones to really measure everything that’s going around. It actually says that the phone’s accelerometer is so sensitive that it can detect a P wave, which is the first wave that comes from an earthquake and it’s typically much less damaging than the S wave, which is what comes afterwards and what we usually measure as the big number of the earthquake, the one that causes most of the damage. It says that actually back in 2016, UC Berkeley created an app called MyShake, which did something similar, but Google’s kind of borrowed this idea, integrated it into it’s OS and made it more widespread. So made it to where it goes to all of their Android devices. It says these things are actually starting out in California, which is a great place to start it as that’s where most earthquakes it seems kind of happen, but then it can actually be rolled out all the way across the world.

Josh Anderson:
So really another great way that folks are using technology in a whole new way to solve whole new problems and hopefully be able to save people injuries, property damage, and even lives by being able to early detect these and have people get to safe areas or safer areas I suppose, during large earthquakes. I believe Google is doing a few other things with their Android phones, with Lookout, and some other programs that they’re putting on there to help with accessibility. And we’ll make sure to have stories about those in the coming weeks. But for right now, we’ll put a story over to this as Google actually turns Android phones into an earthquake detection network. Very cool stuff.

Josh Anderson:
I’m willing to bet that many of the folks listening to this podcast use Facebook in some way, shape or form. I do not, so I’m not the best judge on this, but in the past, whenever I’ve worked with individuals who needed to use Facebook perhaps for work or somehow for their business, we’ve run into some major accessibility problems. There were some things that were just kind of inaccessible or very, very hard to use. Luckily, like many digital companies, Facebook has realized that accessibility is extremely important and something that really needs to be addressed. So I found a story over at Digital Information World. This is written by Arooj Ahmed, and it’s called, Facebook provides an overview of some latest improvements in the accessibility features, keyboard shortcuts, and rendering text font. The story actually came out at the beginning of August. So if you are a Facebook user and use assistive technology, you may have already noticed some of these on the site. It says that most of these features are specifically designed for folks with multiple reading disabilities and visual impairments or screen reader users.

Josh Anderson:
It starts off by talking about the font size. So the font size was quite unstable and inconsistent. So you might have large font in some places where it’s very easy to read, and then maybe on other folks post stories or news feeds or other pieces, it may have been quite small. By the way, if I get any of the terminology wrong on this, I am so sorry. Again, I have not used Facebook on a regular basis for the better part of six years, but it says that they’ve improved the text rendering and it now has made the font sizes more consistent and stable throughout everything that you would see on the screen. It also says that they are completely and totally remodeling their heading structure, which if you really think, if you’re someone who uses a screen reader, headings is one of the most important things on there.

Josh Anderson:
It helps you really get through the page without having to access all the content to get to what you’re actually looking for. It also says they’ve really made it to where these headings will stay consistent, even when an update comes. Because I know sometimes, and this is kind of true of most technology, you have everything set up the way you wanted, it works perfectly, along comes an update and nothing works anymore. So it looks like they are aware of that issue and have actually been able to overcome it. Of course, we’ll see as new updates come out, but hopefully that is something that will be fixed now, and for good. They have an updated and improved keyboard shortcut list on the screen. They also have developer requirements around text labels for buttons and pictures. This is really great news for anyone who uses assistive technology and wants to be able to use Facebook in kind of a normal fashion just as anyone else would.

Josh Anderson:
It is of course, a great way to find out what family and friends are doing, to find out other information, follow your favorite stars and everything else that I guess folks use Facebook for these days. But I do know in the past it’s just been one of those things that’s kind of inaccessible. You also got to think, everyone’s putting content on there so trying to make them all make it accessible is borderline impossible, we must admit. But it’s really great to think that the company is thinking about accessibility, does know that these issues exist, and they’re doing everything they can to not just address them now, but make sure they stay addressed in the future as more and more updates come out. We’ll put a link to this over in our show notes. You can go and check it out for yourself.

Josh Anderson:
I found an interesting assistive technology story coming out of Harvard and the John A. Paulson School Of Engineering And Applied Sciences. Story’s called improving assistive technology, students designed robotic wearable to empower the visually impaired. It’s by Adam Zewe and it talks about a project there that some students have completed. They’re working on a startup called Foresight and Foresight’s a wearable navigation aid for the visually impaired. Uses cutting edge, soft robotics and computer vision technology. Basically, it’s going to connect to the individual’s smartphone camera and then the smartphone is worn around the neck so that the camera can kind of see out front and detect objects that are coming up nearby. Within this device, which kind of looks like a crisscross vest almost that’s worn across the body. Whenever the camera detects objects, that information will trigger some little textile units in the body that will inflate and provide some haptic feedback as objects approach and as they pass.

Josh Anderson:
So if you kind of think of someone tapping you on the shoulder, maybe giving you that information, but just tapping on different parts of the body to let people know what is coming up and what is around them. It says here the startup was born out of the joint SCAS/GSD course Nano Micro Macro in which teams of students are challenged to apply emerging technology from Harvard labs. It says it was inspired by students’ experience with blind family members who spoke of the stigma surrounding the use of assistive devices. Because if you think, some assisted devices can be kind of large, rather expensive, or it can just kind of single someone out. I’ve worked with a decent amount of individuals that just due to perhaps past experiences, perhaps what neighborhood or side of town they live on, do not like to carry around the white cane. They believe that it makes them a target.

Josh Anderson:
And unfortunately, there are people out there who will take advantage of anyone and any weakness that they can. And unfortunately, they do not want to use that. So it really limits their mobility because they don’t want to stand out and who can really blame them? None of us really want to stand out if we really have to. This isn’t them working in it, they really had an interest in using soft technologies or soft robotics as they kind of call them in here. They want something that can be comfortable and not something that vibrates all the time or is really uncomfortable, bothersome to get to kind of put on and kind of keep on during all this time. It says here, the width of this device, the distance between an object and the user will correlate with the amount of pressure they feel on the body from those actuators. So for them little pockets that will sit there and get a little bit bigger and give you that haptic feedback.

Josh Anderson:
Plus [inaudible 00:11:31] using these kind of inflators and things like that, they’re using simpler kind of lower tech solutions. And in doing that, they’re hoping to keep the prices down, maybe make the fabrication and the building of these things a little bit easier. And really and truthfully, just make it a little bit more accessible. If we really think about assistive technology, sometimes just the price alone can make it inaccessible to a lot of folks that it would grant access to other things which kind of seems to go against really why it’s there. But I do understand why some things really do have to be expensive, but I know in some different guests that we’ve had on the show and just in some different things that we’ve talked about on here, there’s a huge move to use some of these emerging technologies, be it soft robotics, be it AI, be it machine learning and algorithms, to mass produce these items and make them much less expensive and therefore more accessible to many, many more folks.

Josh Anderson:
So it looks like this device is still fully in the development phase, but hopefully sometime here in the future, we’ll hear about it actually coming out. And who knows, maybe even have some of the folks that make it here on the show. But anyway, we’ll put a link to this story over in the show notes that you can go to it and read a little bit more about Foresight, a wearable technology coming out of Hartford.

Josh Anderson:
On today’s show we’re going to have someone on from the Job Accommodation Network to talk about the things they do. And also talk about the ADA and the importance of everything that it did for individuals with disabilities. Now, with that being said, we all know that the ADA was not passed until 1990. To put that in perspective, I was 11. So I’d even been around and I swear I’m really not that old. Individuals with disabilities had fought for their rights for a long time before that, in fact, as far back as the 19th century. But one event that happened leading up to the signing of the Americans with Disabilities act of 1990 was a protest on March 13th. And in this protest in Washington, DC, over 1000 individuals marched from the White House to the US Capitol to demand that Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA.

Josh Anderson:
When they got there, about 60 of these individuals cast aside their wheelchairs and began to just crawl up the Capitol steps. They did this for a few reasons. One, well they’re Americans and it’s peaceable protest. And that’s what we do when things are wrong. But the other thing would just show just how inaccessible things can be. How inaccessible a large staircase can be to anyone with any kind of mobility challenge and how these things can preclude a giant section of the American population just by lacking the foresight to see that individuals may need another access method.

Josh Anderson:
I found a story over at history.com that talks a little bit about this event called the Capitol Crawl. It’s titled, when the Capital Crawl dramatized the need for the Americans with disabilities Act. It’s written by Becky Little, and it talks about the events that I just outlined right there. It gets a little bit more into it, talks about an eight year old activist named Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins and now she actually participated in this crawl as well. She’d already been a protestor for a few years and had actually been arrested at some other protests. There were other protests that week, including one in the Capitol rotunda that ended up having 104 individuals get arrested. And talking about young Jennifer here, it also talks that she was arrested year before in Montreal, where they had protested the American Public Transportation Association for not being inclusive. And it says, ironically, when the police arrested everyone, they had to get accessible school buses to transport them because their Paddy wagons were not accessible.

Josh Anderson:
So, a little bit of irony. Very beautiful irony if I do say so myself on that. So the media reporters and photographers did cover the event, but it didn’t get a whole lot of media attention at that time. But it did mark a significant event in disability rights history. Of course, as many things in America and really the world at large, the ADA did a lot to help individuals with disability, get their rights and get some protections under the law to make sure that they’re not discriminated against. At the same time, there’s always still a very long way to go as there is with any group who’s marginalized in this country. And really the best thing about America is that while we’re not perfect, we are always willing to change, willing to look at ourselves within and find these mistakes that we’ve made or these things that we do wrong in order to make them stronger and make them better.

Josh Anderson:
Put a link to this story over in the show notes so that you can go check out a little bit more information about the Capitol Crawl and how these events and protests helped lead to the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. As we continue celebrating the 30th anniversary of the ADA, I thought that it was important to have someone from the Job Accommodation Network or JAN on to talk about the ADA and the assistance that they offer. Our guest today is Anne Hirsh, associate director of the Job Accommodation Network. And she’s on here to do just that. Anne, welcome to the show.

Anne Hirsh:
Thank you very much.

Josh Anderson:
I’m looking really forward to talking about the ADA, the 30th anniversary, talk about the Job Accommodation Network, but before we do that, could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Anne Hirsh:
Sure. And again, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you all today. My name again is Anne Hirsh and I’m the associate director of the Job Accommodation Network. I’ve been here with JAN for quite some time. I’ve been here for 32 years. Through the years I’ve moved up through the ranks. As a result I’m a very hands on manager. And I actually fill in as a JAN consultant. I do some of the trainings we do for employers and other groups, as well as have the pleasure to manage the great staff we have here at JAN. I really have a passion for the work we do here at JAN and am honored to work with a very dedicated staff. My background is in rehabilitation counseling and vocational evaluation, which has been very helpful in understanding both disability issues and various types of jobs. I’ve really had a great career here at JAN. One thing I really like about the work is how we continue to learn new things, new ways that work is being done, new discoveries and technologies and treatments for people with various health conditions. It’s really very rewarding work.

Josh Anderson:
Well you brought up all the things I love about my job too. So that’s excellent. Well Anne, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act this year. Could you give our listeners just a brief overview of the ADA?

Anne Hirsh:
Certainly. President George H W Bush signed the ADA into law. It’s been modeled on the civil rights act of 1964 and the rehabilitation act of 73. And the ADA is the most comprehensive disability rights legislation in history. It’s employment provisions prohibit discrimination in job application procedures, hiring, advancement, termination, compensation, job training and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment. At JAN, we focus on title 1, the employment provisions, but there are five titles to the law. Title 2 focuses on public services of state and local government agencies. Title 3 on public accommodations. Title 4 on telecommunications and title 5 are the miscellaneous provisions. The intent of the ADA is to level the playing field and give equal opportunity to people with disabilities in all aspects of their lives.

Josh Anderson:
You started to touch on this during that answer, but what is the Job Accommodation Network?

Anne Hirsh:
Well, the Job Accommodation Network, otherwise known as JAN, is funded by a contract through the US department of labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy or ODEP. And JAN is a leading source of free, expert and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations. We offer a range of resources to help and help employers, people with disabilities and service providers with individual accommodation solutions. Our staff are subject matter experts, provide one-on-one consultation over the telephone, internet chat and through email. These confidential conversations focus on what accommodation options there may be for a situation as it’s described. How to talk about the accommodation with the employee if you’re an employer or perhaps how to request an accomodation for an employee. As well as what the ADA might say about the situation as it’s described to us.

Anne Hirsh:
We try to give as many options as we can think of so employers and individuals with disabilities can make informed decisions. All of this is free again because we’re contract funded by ODEP. Our goal is to help people with disabilities enhance their employability and show employers how to capitalize on the value and talent that people with disabilities can add to the workplace.

Josh Anderson:
That’s excellent. I want to dig just a little bit deeper. So what are some of the resources that you have available for individuals?

Anne Hirsh:
Well, we have an extensive website. Individuals can take advantage of our online training modules and videos. They can use our website to explore accommodation options and learn more about possible rights in relation to the ADA. They can also learn about the ins and outs of disclosing a disability to an employer. Should they disclose? Why? Who do you disclose to and the options on how to do so. And of course they can hop online and chat with our staff of consultants and specialists, as well as call or email to discuss their situation. Our goal is to help individuals with disability become better informed and as a result, a better self advocate when it comes to workplace accommodations. And I probably should mention the website is askjan.org.

Josh Anderson:
And we’ll make sure to get that later and get that in the show notes too. Anne along that same line, what are some of the resources available for businesses?

Anne Hirsh:
Of course they can access those same online resources that I just described as well as we have something called the JANs workplace accommodation toolkit. The toolkit is a free, comprehensive online resource for employers seeking to move beyond basic compliance for the ADA and to create a more disability inclusive workplace. The toolkit provides guidance and resources for developing or updating accommodation policy and processes while leveraging the best proven practices available to date. The toolkit contains actionable accommodation policies and processes from leading US businesses, a suite of accommodation forms, sample forms, training presentations, and role play videos modeling inclusive behaviors. The toolkit also includes the best in emerging practices for creating an inclusive workplace for people with disabilities during all the phases of the employment life cycle. Business can access our trainings and that one-on-one confidential consultation with JAN staff or go with the employers who contact us, is to provide comprehensive information in a timely manner so they can make informed decisions that enable them to hire and retain talented people with disabilities.

Josh Anderson:
Anne, when should someone contact JAN? I know that can sometimes be a hard question.

Anne Hirsh:
Someone should contact JAN when they have a question about a workplace accommodation issue, and about somebody with a disability or health condition, whether it’s about themselves or a client they happen to be working with, or an employee or a job applicant. If they’re looking for training on topics related to workplace accommodations, they can also start at askjan.org to see our online trainings or contact us to see if we have the availability to do one specifically for them and individuals with disabilities who may be interested starting a small business could also contact JAN. I neglected to mention that earlier, we have a portion of our website that provides resources for those who are interested in starting a small business.

Josh Anderson:
Very nice. That can be very helpful. Anne, what’s one piece of advice that you would offer to businesses concerning accommodations and the ADA?

Anne Hirsh:
Keep an open mind and open lines of communications. Accommodations can be very effective and can enable an employer to hire some great talent and have a diverse workplace.

Josh Anderson:
Kind of that same question. What’s one piece of advice that you would offer to individuals concerning accommodations and the ADA?

Anne Hirsh:
Do your research, whether you’re applying for a job or you’re a current employee, do the research to see if the employer has a policy or procedure related to requesting reasonable accommodation. Following that protocol an employer has in place, may make for a smoother interactive process to discuss your accommodation needs. And also, be prepared to give any documentation that may be requested as well as have your own ideas about possible accommodation options.

Josh Anderson:
Can you tell us a success story of a time when JAN was able to help a business and an employee?

Anne Hirsh:
We have a lot of what we call situations and solutions peppered throughout our website and our documents and in our training. Because our services are confidential, we do not indicate company or individual names in the examples provided, but I can give you a few. One example is a meat processor who is deaf was promoted to a position in a busy warehouse and needed to communicate with several lead processors throughout the day. The facility provided them with handheld text messaging devices so that they could communicate. Over time they also learned some sign language related to the common questions that they had to discuss.

Anne Hirsh:
Another example was an engineer with Parkinson’s disease was having difficulty concentrating and communicating. That individual was accommodated by a quiet office, free of distraction. In addition, her supervisor implemented a policy of scheduled interruptions with written reminders and assignments. And one more is a veteran who is now in an office and has PTSD and anxiety. He was easily distracted when being approached unsuspectingly. The employee works in a structured cubicle environment facing his computer and cubicle walls with his back to the cubicle entrance and they couldn’t rearrange that. He wanted to be alerted when a supervisor or coworker walks up to the cubicle entrance. And that employer provided him with a computer monitor mounted mirror so they could see people approach and a mat with a sensor that provided an audible alert. And you can find a lot more situations and solutions on our website.

Josh Anderson:
I was going to say when I asked that I was like, I bet we could fill the whole show just with those, but I do love those accommodations. Well Anne, you told us this before. What is the best way for our listeners to contact JAN and to find out more?

Anne Hirsh:
The best way is to visit our website at askjan.org. There you can click on our contact button on the top right corner. It gives you a number of different ways to contact us by email or by phone at 800 526-7234. For voice TTYs 877 781-9403. We have internet chat. It’s a big red button on the side of our homepage. And you can do internet chat between nine and six Eastern time. Of course, we’re on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, if you prefer one of those methods.

Josh Anderson:
Excellent. And we’ll put that over in our show notes. Well Anne, thank you so much for coming on today and telling us all about the Job Accommodation Network or JAN, and to talk with us about the ADA.

Anne Hirsh:
Again, I really appreciate you having us as a guest.

Josh Anderson:
Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? If you do, call our listener line at 317 721-7124. Shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAproject, or check us out on Facebook. Are you looking for a transcript or show notes? Head on over to our website at www.eastersealstech.com. Assistive Technology Update is a proud member of the accessibility channel. For more shows like this, plus so much more, head over to accessibilitychannel.com. The views expressed by our guests are not necessarily that of this host or the INDATA Project. This has been your Assistive Technology Update. I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in Indianapolis, Indiana. Thank you so much for listening and we’ll see you next time.