Reasonable accommodation
A reasonable accommodation is an adjustment made in a system to accommodate or make fair the same system for an individual based on a proven need. That need can vary. Accommodations can be religious, physical, mental or emotional, academic, or employment-related, and law often mandates them. Each country has its own system of reasonable accommodations. The United Nations use this term in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, saying refusal to make accommodation results in discrimination. It defines a "reasonable accommodation" as:
Financial costs
Employers and managers are often concerned about the potential cost associated with providing accommodations to employees with disabilities. However, many accommodations, such as moving an employee to a different desk or changing the work schedule, do not have any direct cash costs, and most others have only one-time costs. Accommodation costs may be offset by the savings associated with employing people with disabilities.Competing accommodation needs
Rarely, two people will need accommodations that conflict with each other. Creative problem solving may be required to find ways to accommodate both people. For example, the United States Department of Justice recommends that if a program serves a person with a service dog and a person who is allergic to dogs, that the program separate them physically, by asking them to stay in different rooms or on opposite sides of the same room. In some cases, the accommodations that are practical may not be the first choice for all participants. For example, a person who has a hearing impairment may not be able to understand the artificial voice generated by the text-to-speech device used by a person who is unable to speak, so they may have to find a way to communicate that does not rely on that device, even if the non-speaking person would prefer to use that device.Europe
United Kingdom
The laws of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland require employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled employees, as well as providers of various services to do likewise for disabled pupils, students and service users. This duty originally arose under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and is now dealt with by the Equality Act 2010. Failure to do so can give rise to a complaint by an employee to an employment tribunal or to the civil courts or other tribunals.North America
Canada
In Canada equality rights, as set out in provincial and federal anti-discrimination laws and in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, require that accommodation be made to various minorities. With a new addition being "family status" being included as well. In Canada reasonable accommodation also means a legal and constitutional concept that requires Canadian public institutions to adapt to the religious and cultural practices of minorities as long as these practices do not violate the other rights and freedoms.In Québec the Bouchard-Taylor Commission examined the subject of reasonable accommodation due to religious and cultural differences.
United States
In the United States, federal law requires that reasonable accommodations be made by providers of employment, education, or housing; and in courts and other public venues.Education
Students are protected against discrimination on the basis of disability under US federal law. Different laws apply to younger students and to college students. Younger students are protected by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as well as other federal laws. These students, who may be as young as three years old, may have an Individualized Education Program or a 504 plan, both of which are essentially agreements between the students' families and their schools that state what the students' needs are and how those needs will be addressed at school. Younger students are entitled to more support from the school, including some medical and personal services, compared to students attending a college or university, who are entitled only to accommodations necessary due to a disability. For example, a young child might be taught social skills in elementary school, or a teenager might be coached on organizational skills or time management, but after high school, students are not entitled to have schools provide these services. After high school, IDEA no longer applies, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 becomes more relevant.In special education, a distinction is made between accommodation and modification. An accommodation provides the same educational work, but in a way that accommodates their disabilities. For example, a student with limited vision may be given a large-print book. This student reads the same work of literature as everyone else in the class, but the student is able to see the words on the page because of the larger type. Similarly, a student with an episodic disability may be allowed, if the student becomes ill just before a deadline, to turn in an assignment a few days late, just like a student who had gotten sick with a viral infection such as COVID-19 or influenza would normally be allowed to turn in an assignment shortly after recovering from the infection. These students do the same work, just on a slightly different schedule. An unlimited exemption from turning in any assignment on time, on the other hand, is "would not be a reasonable accommodation". At the university level, common accommodations include flexible deadlines, recording lectures, extra time on tests for slow readers, taking a test in a quiet room, and receiving a copy of lecture notes taken by another student.
A modification differs from accommodations by changing the curriculum, usually to make it easier for a student who is unable to complete the normal work. For example, if the class is reading one of Shakespeare's plays, then a student with an intellectual disability may be given a specially simplified, shortened version of the original play. This allows the student to participate partially in the regular educational curriculum, but in a way that has been changed because of the student's individual limitations.