Career Development and CASA discuss disabilities in the workplace

By Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriguez Arts & Features Editor Career Development and the Center for Academic Success and Achievement (CASA) hosted “Disabilities and the Workplace” over Zoom on Feb. 11. The presentation was hosted by Emily Abel, a career counselor from Career Development, and Julianne Lilienfeld, a disability/access services coordinator from CASA. Abel started with how to develop résumés. “There is really no one correct way to do a résumé. It is a subjective thing by nature,” she said. Different professionals and counselors would give different advice, but Abel said she has some general guidelines. résumé trends and styles come and go every five to 10 years, she said. Sometimes people bring her résumés that are based on an older style, and it doesn’t work as well nowadays. Many students have made a résumé from high school, and think they can just add to that résumé now, Abel said. But what’s appropriate for a high-schooler’s résumé can be very different for a college student or graduate. Abel recommended meeting with a career counselor at Career Development in order to help make an individualized résumé. They also have sample résumés for most FSU majors, she said. Professional résumés are focused on skills and accomplishments, rather than listing jobs, she said. Stating “references available upon request” and using objective statements aren’t necessary anymore, she said. Even if a template has them, there is no need to include them. Also, avoid templates anyway, she said. It’s OK to utilize them, but they’re usually not up to date with the current résumé trends. Abel also recommended using the PAR statement - Project, Action, Result. When writing about experiences, explain the project, action, and result in order to make a quality statement. Lilienfeld began her part of the presentation, focused on disabilities. It is not legally required to disclose a disability unless it impacts the employee’s ability to perform the essential functions of the job, Lilienfeld said. She used the example of someone being unable to lift heavy objects. If they’re applying to be a teacher, it’s not required. If they want to be a construction worker, it would be. Lilienfeld listed six possibilities about when to disclose a disability. The first option is on the job application. The benefit of this option is that it’s getting the disability out there immediately, she said. But the downside is that it can lead to discrimination. The second option is to disclose it during the interview, she said. The person with the disability would be able to answer any questions or misconceptions the interviewer has in person. Another possibility is after the job offer, she added. After getting accepted, it can be easier to mention the disability. The fourth option is after starting work, she said. This helps avoid judgments based on the disability, if it’s not visible. Option five is after a problem arises because of the disability, and there isn’t much choice but to disclose it, she said. “I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that option.” Depending on the situation, Lilienfeld would also recommend never disclosing the disability. “You might never disclose, and you might never have to. So remembering that is an option is really important,” Lilienfeld said. If the disability is visible, it might have to be disclosed earlier than otherwise desired, she added. When disclosing, focus on strengths and skills, just like how Abel said to do in résumés, Lilienfeld said. How and when a person discloses their disability is really personal, she said. “Just because one person with a specific disability discloses during the interview doesn’t mean every person with that same disability is also going to disclose during that interview,” she said. Discrimination prevents a lot of people from disclosing, Lilienfeld said. As long as the disability does not impact the employee’s ability to perform the job, they cannot be fired based on the disability. Also, if the person receives a job offer and then discloses their disability, it would not be legal for the job offer to then be revoked because of that, she said. “Reasonable accommodations” is how accommodations are legally referred to in the workforce, Lilienfeld said. Modifying things is OK, but they cannot cause undue hardship, she said. Undue hardship is when an accommodation would be considered unreasonable, such as fundamentally altering the nature of the business. As an example, someone who needs frequent breaks would be given multiple 15-minute breaks throughout the day as a reasonable accommodation, she said. An undue hardship would be placing a bed at the desk and letting them sleep whenever they want. Another example of a reasonable accommodation is letting cashiers sit while at the cash register, she added. Lilienfeld recommended using askjan.org - JAN stands for Job Accommodation Network, and it lists examples of different disabilities and what accommodations worked for them in the past.