Reimagining "Reasonable": Workplace Accommodations Among People with Disabilities in the COVID-19 Era

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many workplaces have adopted accommodations that people with disabilities have long requested but often been denied, such as the ability to work from home. The social model of disability and a culture of ableism help explain which accommodation requests were denied or fulfilled prior to the emergence of COVID-19. However, the pandemic opens a window of opportunity to better understand accommodations and the workplace, and the impact of COVID-19 on the future of reasonable accommodations. By centering the voices of people with disabilities through twenty-one interviews with members of ADA 25 Advancing Leadership, I show how the COVID-19 pandemic has made visible the strong culture of ableism and the use of the medical model of disability prior to and during the pandemic, while creating possibilities of what a more accessible workplace could look like. Specifically, I demonstrate that among people with disabilities, there is hope that this progress will not be lost, particularly now that many companies have been forced to change and reimagine the workplace. In other words, there is now evidence that certain accommodations are possible, and this can be used to advocate for a more accessible world; while this brings hope, there is also much doubt and uncertainty. It is of critical importance that the Americans with Disabilities Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, courts, and employers clearly recognize accommodations such as working from home and flexible work schedules as reasonable accommodations since the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the feasibility of these accommodations. We must also reimagine "reasonable"; these work arrangements must not be allowed only when people without disabilities are involved.