Elena has a visual disability as a result of an injury at age three. She does have some vision, but struggles with documents in regular-font print.

Elena has a visual disability as a result of an injury at age three. She does have some vision, but struggles with documents in regular-font print. Three years ago, Elena began work as a housekeeper in a major hotel chain. You are an HR manager at this chain. Elena’s work has been exemplary and she is now being considered for a promotion to head housekeeper. This promotion would involve more reading; she needs to track and document room cleaning progress as well as participate in hiring and performance management of employees who would be working under her. She is excited about the possibility of promotion, but is very concerned about the parts of the job that would require reading and writing.

1. What might be some reasonable accommodations that could be appropriate for Elena?

2. Choose two of the accommodations you described above. For each, consider…

a. What might you need to do if you are an employer to ensure that these accommodations are in place and that they are effective?

b. What might be the cost of each of these accommodations? (Ball park figure is OK.)

3. Elena’s yearly salary is $25,000. According to research by the Saratoga Institute, it will cost about 100% – 150% of her annual salary to replace her if she leaves the job. By comparison, what would the reasonable accommodations cost? What is the difference?