My site supervisor during my undergraduate internship was blind. I didn't know he was blind until I was interviewed by him for the internship position. I spent the two weeks which lapsed between the interview and my first day as an intern constantly wondering how I would communicate with him whenever he could not understand my voice synthesizer. At the time, I was still using my old voice synthesizer which didn't have the greatest voice output. It was difficult for even me to understand. Whenever people couldn't understand it, I would print the message out on the printer of the synthesizer. Anyway, I thought, "If he doesn't understand what the synthesizer says, and since he won't be able to read whatever I print out, how am I going to get my messages across to him?"

Never fear! My supervisor had a desktop computer with a scanner connected to it. His software used voice output to read whatever was scanned into it. It's a fact that the voice output from his computer was tremendously better than the voice output from my portable synthesizer. Hence, we used his computer for me to communicate with him.......and, yes, we had a marvelous working relationship! [This] illustrates that a person with a disability may not know much, if anything, about [other] disabilities. This [also] illustrates that if you keep an open mind and put two or more optimistic minds together, anything is possible.

VERY General Disability Etiquette

• Don't patronize. This includes sympathetic comments.
• Recall that you're dealing with a person, rather than a "disabled person." The latter implies isolation of people with disabilities from the rest of the world.
• Remember that each person has unique qualities and skills which may have nothing to do with health status. The person who gets help may be your organization's answer to Einstein or Hawking.
• Don't exclude people from activities because you think their participation would be limited. Offer to assist when appropriate.
• Remember that many folks with disabilities just want to get through the day without being embarrassed.
• Many fully-abled people look at assistive technology as somehow "unfair." Remember that those using assistive technology are only getting help on the spot. They actually have to review what they've learned later, on their own. And physical disabilities that inhibit note-taking also inhibit doodling, analysis, and synthesis of new information. So who really is benefitting from assistive technology?
• Be familiar with commonly-used terms:
  • accessibility = "features to help customers" (e.g. curb cuts, ramps, etc.)
  • accommodation = "more time for customers to do what they're doing" (e.g. long traffic lights, etc.)
• Don't assume that everyone with a disability understands everyone else with a disability.
• When meeting a person with a disability, identify yourself and anyone else with you, pointing out the location of each.
• In dealing with the visually impaired, avoid gestures and descriptions that depend on vision (e.g. colors, landmarks, and measurements). (Examples: does every blind person read Braille?)

ADHD

Attention Deficit (with or without Hyperactivity) Disorder doesn't affect a growing number of Americans. It's just that a growing number of Americans is figuring out that ADHD affects them. As the number grows, so does our ability to recognize that these people are also able to contribute to society and need just a little help.

Potential signs of a worker with ADD/ADHD include

• carelessness
• lack of sustained attention
• doesn't *look* attentive
• lack of organization
• struggles with instructions
• forgetful
• distractable

How workers with ADD/ADHD can enhance their performance:

• Start on the task ASAP!
• Make sure the task is understood clearly.
• Break it up into pieces.
• Reward yourself for any milestone reached.
• Record difficulties and "blind alleys" for later examination.
• Try to establish a routine.
• Give praise where it's due!

Help in the Workplace for People with Disabilities

1. Programs are available that provide real-time verbatim note taking or closed captioning. Examples include C-Print and Magpie. For deaf students and employees, or those with severe learning disabilities, systems like this are primarily for note-taking. Keep in mind that court stenographers, who do this sort of thing for a living, are highly paid. Also remember that real-time voice recognition programs have to be trained, and won't pick up homonyms well. The first time you see a phrase like "cereal killer," you won't forget.
2. Sign language services are available at most large companies and can be contracted. Sign language is also real-time, but it's more for direct communication than note-taking. The rest of the audience will want the interpreter to be more or less "invisible," or they'll be distracted. Remember that dark backgrounds will make signing easier to interpret, and that signers will have a very difficult time with equations and data. They'll refer their audience to the board or screen when those complex pieces of information come up.
3. Online education helps the disabled gain more equal access to classrooms. Nevertheless, disciplines that depend a lot on symbols, like engineering, tend not to be well-suited to some online settings because equations aren't adaptable to note-taking programs or message boards. And the best most of us can hope for from e-mail is clarification.

References

Hurley, K. "Disability Etiquette." Published at various sites on the Internet, because nobody knows where Hurley is to ask her permission -- other authors are reproducing her work as though it's public domain. I've included a direct quote and a summary instead.
Mooney, J. and D. Cole. Learning Outside the Lines. NYC: Fireside Books, 2000. ISBN 0-684-86598-X
MAGpie is a Java- or Windows-based captioning program for Web/CD-ROM developers.
SMIL is an initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium designed for authoring of interactive audiovisual presentations.
C-Print is a computer-aided speech-to-print transcription system.