COUNSELING VS. COACHING

Do you know the difference? Read the Article from the Professionals.

OUR CURRENT NEWSLETTER

In This Issue:

Creating Inclusive Environments
A Model for Including People with Disabilities in Your Workplace
Considerations for Accommodating a Worker with a Psychiatric Disability
Coaching Corner for Federal Disability
Managers: Criteria for Assessing Quality Psychiatric Disability Management Vendors
About Pressman Consulting

Featured Writers: Sue E. Pressman, Ph.D. & Thomas J. O'Connor, M.Ed.

by Sue E. Pressman

There are approximately 54 million people in the U.S. with disabilities. Harris surveys by the National Organization on Disability and many other studies show us that people with disabilities significantly lag behind the general population in employment, levels of educational attainment, household income, and home ownership. But, reach out and speak to any person with disability and ask if they want to achieve, if they want to be included in company or agency parties, if they want to go to school to learn new skills, if they want to own a home, if they want to earn a promotion, if they want to enjoy the same access and equal opportunities as the rest of society. Perhaps what you will discover is that reaching beyond the requirements is what it takes to ensure that people with disabilities enjoy the same equal opportunities and accessibility to programs, services and employment in government, the private sector and society.

To understand the scope and importance of creating inclusive environments, we must first understand the meaning of disability. An individual with a disability, defined by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended (Rehab Act), and the Americans with Disabilities of 1990 (ADA), "is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of such person's major life activities, a person who has a record of such an impairment, or a person who is regarded by others as having such an impairment." While these laws do not specifically identify all the impairments covered, examples may include sensory (vision or hearing), physical, speech, cognitive or mental impairments. Examples of major life activities are often affected include mobility (walking), seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing and learning.

Section 504 of the Rehab Act states that "no qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under" any program or activity that either receives federal financial assistance or is conducted by any executive agency.

The significance to federal contractors cannot be overstated because even though the ADA brought those same standards to the private industry 17 years after the federal government's required compliance, these laws were nothing new to companies enjoying the benefits of federal contracting. These companies should have been in compliance long before the ADA. However, it was not until the ADA of 1990 that enforcement in the private sector started to become widespread. People with disability finally had a voice.

More recently, the President's New Freedom Initiative (Feb. 12, 2001) further extends and supports earlier legislation with a "comprehensive program to promote the full participation of people with disabilities in all areas of society by increasing access to assistive and universally designed technologies, expanding educational and employment opportunities, and promoting increased access into daily community life." Assistive technologies enable usage of existing technology, products and environments. Universally designed products and environments are created to be used by all people with little or no need for modification. The goal of the initial design is to simplify things for everyone by making products, communications and the built environment more useable by as many people as possible. Everyone wins with a universal design because it benefits people of all ages and abilities reducing the need for reasonable accommodations.

Regarding disability, knowing the laws and requirements is not enough. When we break down the attitudinal barriers through learning, exposure and knowledge, the other challenges begin to disappear because we already have the laws and the technology to support them. Perhaps, it will require reaching beyond the requirements to make life, work and all aspects of society truly accessible and achievable for everyone.

A MODEL FOR INCLUDING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN YOUR WORKPLACE

Information presented focuses not only on the steps needed to create an inclusive workplace but more importantly to ensure equal opportunity and demonstrated agency commitment.

1. Read everything possible to understand the laws and how to assist people with disabilities.
2. Seek support from the highest levels within your organization.
3. Become involved with an ADA/504/508 Task Force or Advisory Group.
4. Become a resource for employers and managers to help hire, retain and promote people with disabilities in their offices and in training programs.
5. Understand your agency's process for determining needs and accommodations.

If you are a supervisor:

Meet with the person (employee) with a special need
Conduct and environmental scan (study the building, office, workspace)
Meet with the entire work office group for team building
Establish a mentorship role for an office mate or coworker
Check in with the both mentor and person with a disability
Provide one on one career counseling and executive coaching
Provide agency-wide disability awareness/management training
Become recognized as an agency resource
Develop Training Programs and Manuals
Provide Assessments, evaluations, and record keeping
Publish your commitment and ADA/504/508 support to your entire workforce . . .
...Newsletters
...Announcements
...Recognition programs
...Electronic bulletins

Coaching Corner for Federal Supervisors:
Considerations for Accommodating a Worker with a Psychiatric Disability

Recommendations from Thomas J. O'Connor, M.A., CRC

The right expertise can save you long term costs and teach you how to be self-sufficient the next time. So, how do you go about qualifying your need for such a professional and evaluating a potential consultant?

Choose to Confront Your Employee's Disability or Behavior Issues. We understand the discomfort and concerns associated with confronting an employee demonstrating disability-related behavior. However, most workers experiencing disability-related barriers to performance will not disclose because of privacy concerns and stigma. Constructively confronting these problems ultimately serves all your employees and expands your repertoire of HR skills.

Assess the Need for Expertise. This is critical for effective resolution of disclosure/accommodation issues. Generally, your professional experience and comfort level dealing with these issues will guide this process.

Initiate a Problem-Solving Dialogue with Your Worker. Potentially, neither you nor your employee will know whether a particular behavior that interferes with performance is manageable (or not). It's up to you to discuss it in a nonthreatening forum that invites disclosure and need for accommodation if the performance problem is disability related. Invite your employee to declare whether the problems should be addressed as professional behavior issues or disability issues.

Identify Manageable and Reasonable Accommodations. Engage your employee in problem-solving the accommodation process from both perspectives. Accommodations should be responsible and reasonable for both parties.

Access cost Factors and Potential Hardship.Accommodating your worker has an impact on your work environment, too. Be prepared to defend your practices and support your front line staff.

Develop an Accommodation Plan with Evaluation Steps. Every accommodation plan requires oversight and review so that all parties are working cooperatively to make it work. Define your performance goals and time frames, and hold your worker and staff responsible for outcomes.

Who is Pressman Consulting, LLC ?

Pressman Consulting, LLC has been providing services to the Federal government since 1992. What makes us different? We have high standards and a reputation for providing the best in practice, proven methods, and measurable results. We are listed with the Department of Defense CCR contracting register as a woman owned small business.

The mission of Pressman Consulting, LCC is to bring together the leading edge skills and resources in the consulting world with serious efforts to create innovations and excellence in public service. To that end it is our practice to maintain ongoing networking partnerships with leaders in disability management, career development, and organizational development in order to enlist the right resources just in time for breakthrough solutions in public service.

Our consultants rank among the highest in their fields because we only employ the most knowledgeable, highly educated, and experienced, management consultants, trainers, counselors, coaches, and researchers. They hold Doctoral and Masters degrees, licensing and certification in their areas of expertise and many years of experience in their disciplines. The work of our consultants has been featured in The New York Times, HR Magazine, and National Public Radio as well as the Federal Workers Compensation conference, the Federal Dispute Resolution Conference, and numerous FPMI HR/ER/LR conferences. Whether creating a custom program based on a customer's unique needs or choosing "what's on the shelf," our team will provide you and your customers with the perfect combination of talent and small business attention.

A Representative list of recent services provided to the Federal government includes:

U.S. Department of State
Internal Revenue Service
Transportation Security Administration
U.S. Railroad Retirement Board
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Treasury
Department of Justice
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Department of Veterans Affairs
Department of Transportation
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Drug Enforcement Agency
U.S. Department of Education

ATTENTION EEO and DISABILITY MANAGERS!
Consider Us Your On-Call Resource for:

Training in Specialized Disability Issues, Coast-to-Coast
Executive Coaching for Supervisors, EEO, and Disability Program Managers
Transportation Security Administration
Solutions and Rehabilitation for Difficult OWCP Cases
Consulting in Executive Order 13164/ Accommodation Policy
Specialized Solutions to Psychiatric Disability Issues
Experts in Working with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Employees in American Sign Language

Call us for a free confidential consultation at 703-536-3663 or contact us today.