This presentation reports results of research on workplace personal assistance services conducted by InfoUse in the PAS Center. The goal of this formative study was to learn more about how workplace personal assistance services and assistive technology are arranged for in the workplace, and the issues that arise. We conducted 60 structured phone interviews: with 21 employers familiar with workplace PAS, 19 employment organizations, and 20 workplace PAS users. Interview respondents identified a number of practices that are succeeding, including establishment of policies for arranging for PAS, centralization of accommodation budgets to remove work unit disincentives, and providing a shared personal assistant for interpreting or for task-related and personal care tasks. The presentation includes findings on personal and employer costs, methods of arranging for workplace PAS, criteria for best practices and examples of successful workplace PAS accommodations.
Powerpoint slides available at:
http://www.workrerc.org/sos/stoddard.php