In the case of one area resident, federal stimulus money directed toward reducing the unemployment rate in Florida has made a big difference.
Through a pilot program of the Social Security Administration and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Lee Lefkowitz was recently hired as a claims representative with the Gainesville Social Security office.
Lefkowitz has profound hearing loss and relies heavily on reading lips to communicate.
Oct 29, 2009
Social Security Uses Stimulus Money To Hire Deaf Man As Claims Representative
From the Tallahassee Democrat:
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8 comments:
It's my opinion,this is social security's attempt to send a message.
But such employees may need accommodation. And employment law in such matters does completely protect an employee from termination.
"And employment law in such matters does completely protect an employee from termination".
I meant to say,And employment law in such matters does not completely protect an employee from termination.
A#1 raises a good point. SSA has a long history of hiring and accomodating people with various severe physical disabilities, visual impairments, significant degrees of impaired mobility and others with hearing loss.
This hire is unusual because it is for the CR job, a job which requires the ability to speak and understand spoken words both face-to-face and by telephone. Clearly, a number of simple accomodations come to mind which would make it possible for this CRT to perform well in the position for which he was hired.
A#1 is also correct in saying employment law does not and cannot completely protect an employee from termination. In order to be eligible for federal employment an individual must be able to perform all the essential functions of the position sought (or held)to the same performance standard as all other employees. Failure to perform satisfactorily is just as much a cause for performance counselling and possible termination for ADA disabled employees as for any others.
But, as a practical matter, it is very difficult to terminate *any* employee with a career conditional appointment. Therefore, the most likely outcome of poor performance for such employees is continued assistance in performing some duties in a limited capacity or, possibly, civil service disability benefits. The latter subject is beyond my capacity to explain, because SS DIB benefits are also involved and we know how that goes.
All other things being equal, this employee has a good chance of performing to standard. That's as good as it gets in SSA, because CR jobs are just plain hard!
This shows how absurd the ADA is that you have to hire or would even think about hiring a deaf person that needs to communicate with customers. So I guess there will be a person doing sign language in the person’s cubicle for claim interviews. Like hiring a blind driving instructor.
Not at all--there are areas with significant deaf populations--Rochester NY and Washington DC come to mind--where a deaf CR could communicate with deaf claimants in the course of taking claims and doing other actions, and provide service not otherwise available. It would eliminate the need for deaf interpretors that so often does exist. And with the advent of video devices which many deaf people use to communicate on the internet, the availability of a deaf cr would be an asset.
A deaf CR will be limited in the number of claimants that he/she can assist in a timely manner. It will be harder for a deaf CR to speak with non-deaf claimants. I can't quote statistics, but it is doubtful that there is a full-time need for face-to-face interviews with deaf clientele in any office. A deaf CR will require accomodations that will cost SSA time, staff and money. A quick and bright employee, deaf or not, can always learn how to process actions that don't require dealing with the public directly, but will not do well with answering the phones or doing face-to-face interviews with non-deaf and illiterate members of the public. And there are lots of them. So, this is a niche staffing situation. But in SSA, this staff position takes away another staff position that could be filled by someone who could do more work and be more versatile in the same amount of time. It is a feel-good measure but may not help SSA work faster or better. But perhaps this is a time in which perception is more important than substance.
Time will tell if I am wrong.
We have a blind CR in our office and she requires another person to handle her mail. So it takes two people to do the job that everyone else does themselves. Not to mention all the special equipment she requires.
There are a lot of duties within FO's that do not require claimant contact, depending on degree of specialization. The stark truth is that a deaf employee would be a greater asset than a blind employee(please no political correctness.) Deaf CR's can do development, adjudication, review. Claims filed via internet which the FO has to import and resolve would be a natural fit. Deaf employees can certainly work in the PC's, which requres no public contact at all. I don't get why anyone would think that this would be a problem.
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