Reasonable Accom Proc Form Amended

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Endnotes Departments/Agencies may permit the ARM to also function as the decision maker when appropriate. 2 When determining whether an individual's impairment rises to the level of disability under the ADA, the determination should be made without considering the benefits of any steps taken to mitigate or lessen the effects of the impairment, except for ordinary eyeglasses and contact lenses. 3 Individuals meet the requirements for being "regarded as" having a disability if they are discriminated against because of an actual or perceived impairment, whether or not the impairment limits or is perceived to limit a major life activity. An individual cannot be regarded as having an impairment if the impairment is transitory and minor. A transitory impairment is an impairment with an actual or expected duration of three months or less. Individuals only "regarded as" disabled are not entitled to reasonable accommodations. 4 A job function may be considered essential for any number of reasons, including, but not limited to, the following: • the function may be essential because the reason the position exists is to perform the function, e.g., a bus driver's position exists to operate the bus; • the function may be essential because of the limited number of employees available among whom the performance of the job function can be distributed; • the function may be so highly specialized that the incumbent in the position is hired for his or her expertise or ability to perform the particular function; and • sometimes, an essential function is performed infrequently but the consequence of not performing it would be severe. For example, firefighters do not routinely carry people out of burning buildings, but the consequence of a firefighter not being able to carry a person out of a burning building would be severe in that it could result in that person's death. 5 In many instances, the appropriate reasonable accommodation may be so obvious to the employer and the qualified individual with a disability that it may not be necessary to proceed by following this step-by-step procedure. For example, if an employee who uses a wheelchair requests her desk to be placed on blocks to elevate the top of the desk above the arms of the wheelchair and the decision maker complies, an appropriate accommodation has been requested, identified, and provided without the employee or employer engaging in the step-by-step interactive process. 6 The request does not have to be in writing nor does it have to use legal language. An employee who tells a supervisor that she/he is having difficulty performing a job function because of a medical condition has made a request for reasonable accommodation, and the supervisor must take the request for W