Workplace Personal Assistance Services for People with Disabilities: Making Productive Employment Possible

The purpose of the study was to explore the perceived value of workplace accommodations from the perspective of the individual users of Personal Assistance Services (PAS) who had contacted the Job Accommodation Network (JAN). A follow-up telephone survey was conducted with people with disabilities to assess their perspective on the relative impact of workplace PAS and other accommodations. This survey included 45 individuals with disabilities who had considered workplace PAS as an accommodation. When rating his or her own functional ability to work with no accommodations versus with workplace accommodations, the participants responded to a five-point Likert scale with 1 as "Not Limited at All" and 5 as "Substantially Limited." The findings of this research indicate that for people with disabilities who have considered or implemented PAS accommodations perception of work ability increases from being Substantially Limited with no accommodation Not Limited at All with accommodation