Accommodations for Cognitive Disabilities: What the Data Shows
When workers with memory, attention, or processing limitations were asked what actually helps, the most useful supports were often simple and low-tech: flexible schedules, a quieter space, reminders, and help from coworkers.
This is a short summary, not the full study. If a detail matters to you, follow the links to the original.
What it found
- In a survey of workers with functional limitations (Maureen Linden, presented at the NARRTC conference in 2011, funded by the U.S. Department of Education), the accommodations most used by people with cognitive or "mental function" limitations were memory aids, an adjustable schedule, help from a coworker, a flexible schedule, and a different work area.
- Workers were most satisfied with the schedule-based changes and with having a different work area. They felt more neutral about memory aids and coworker help, which suggests fit matters as much as the tool itself.
- About 35 percent of this group reported needs that were still unmet, most often a quieter work area, a request that had been turned down, or a wish for more understanding from coworkers.
- Older workers in the group tended to report more limitations than younger workers, and the researchers concluded that assistive technology on its own was not meeting this group's needs.
Why it matters
If your challenges are around focus, memory, or processing information, this is a useful reminder that the changes most likely to help are often ordinary ones you can describe in plain words: a written checklist, a reminder system, a quieter desk, or a more flexible schedule. You do not need a high-tech device to make a reasonable request, and the Job Accommodation Network lists many low-cost options for these limitations.
Worth keeping in mind
- This was a preliminary analysis of a limited 2011 survey sample, so the exact percentages are a snapshot rather than the last word.
- "Cognitive" covers a wide range of conditions, and the survey grouped them together. Your own needs may look quite different.
Sources
Every point above is drawn from these sources: the original study and current official guidance. Links open in a new tab.
- Accommodation and Compliance: the A to Z of disabilities and accommodations (opens in a new tab) Job Accommodation Network (JAN), funded by the U.S. Department of Labor
- Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the ADA (opens in a new tab) U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Workplace accommodations and unmet needs (Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 2012) (opens in a new tab) Linden, M., peer-reviewed report from the same workplace-accommodation survey program