The Sheri Denkensohn Story!

Employing the Disabled is a Great Idea!!
Celebrating Disability Employment Awareness Month!


Job: Senior Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services
Who: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General

I am pleased to say that my experiences as an individual with a disability have been positive throughout my Federal career. I am a quadriplegic as a result of a diving accident that occurred when I was 16 years old. I moved to the Washington D.C. area in 1989 to attend law school at the Georgetown University Law Center. Beginning with my very first Federal job as a summer intern in 1991 at the General Services Administration (GSA), Office of Inspector General, five years as a law clerk and attorney at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Office of Inspector General, and most recently during the 4 years I have been employed at the Office Inspector General at Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), management has provided me with the reasonable accommodations necessary to be successful and productive in my work. I attribute this success to one basic fact-effective communication between management and myself.


My own experience with reasonable accommodation at HHS began during my transition from OPM to my position as an attorney in the HHS Office of Inspector General. Once I accepted the job at HHS, my supervisor called to discuss a start date. It just so happened that the entire office space for my division was in the process of being renovated. To alleviate the disruption and difficulties associated with my having to move from office to office during construction, my future boss and I agreed that it would make sense for me to begin working at HHS after the renovation was completed.


The other accommodation that I requested was voice-activated computer software. Advances in assistive technology, such as voice activation, have made it much simpler and cheaper for agencies to accommodate disabled workers. My first voice-activated software program, purchased when I worked at OPM, cost close to $5000. The newest voice technology cost the agency less than $500. This technology, which was no more difficult to load onto the computer then a standard software program, enables me to work faster and smarter, goals that all agencies are looking for employees to achieve.


Soon thereafter, to ensure that the appropriate accommodations would be ready once I began my new job, I was asked to meet with my supervisor, facilities personnel, and the architect to look at the floor plans to select the most accessible office. Through this interactive process, I was able to select an office that met my needs--- it did not have a narrow corridor and was close to the elevator. At that meeting, I had the added opportunity to talk about the other accommodations that I needed. I brought measurements with me so I could provide information about appropriate desk height. I also requested an automatic door for my office that would lock automatically when closed and had a switch that would allow me to keep the door open during the day. I explained that this design would permit me to independently operate the door without having to ask for assistance. In addition, an automatic door design would mean that I would not have to restrict my hours to those when other office personnel were present. What I wanted was the ability to arrive early and work late!


It is important to note that the process of making reasonable accommodations does not end once an employee requests an accommodation and that accommodation is made. It is an ongoing process, which may depend on the nature of an employee's disability, advances in technology, and/or changes in an employee's job duties. For instance, after I began working in the Cohen building I realized that the elevator buttons were too high for me to reach and I had to request assistance to travel to and from the fifth floor. With the strong support of management, a special strip of lowered buttons was added to each elevator allowing me to enter and exit the elevator independently. I am now able to use the elevator independently both during the day when there are other employees present and on the weekends when elevator traffic is much more limited. Another important accommodation recently made available is a wheelchair accessible van. This van transports disabled employees to HHS related meetings and functions within the District and surrounding areas.

http://www.opm.gov/disability/success_1-06.asp#jump-1

U.S. Office of Personnel Management 1900 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20415 (202) 606-1800 TTY (202) 606-2532